China's Tsinghua Unigroup, may snatch a co-CEO from Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) to revive a plan to build a domestic DRAM industry.
Source : eetasia - TAIPEI, Mar. 28, 2019 –
China's Tsinghua Unigroup, the state-owned holding company that controls most of the nation's semiconductor assets, may snatch a co-CEO from Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) to revive a plan to build a domestic DRAM industry.
According to media reports and to people interviewed by EE Times, Tsinghua aims to hire SMIC Co-CEO Haijun Zhao to head up a new DRAM company that would combine China's fledgling memory makers, which are struggling to survive. Despite China's multi-billion investment to build a domestic memory industry, it lacks much of the key intellectual property needed to compete in the business.
The imminent departure of co-CEO Zhao is "pretty much confirmed," according to a source with first-hand knowledge of SMIC's top management who spoke on the condition of anonymity to EE Times.
He isn't alone. "We are hearing the same thing," said a person in China familiar with the domestic semiconductor industry who also requested anonymity. "There is a larger platform at Tsinghua Unigroup. Unless SMIC can increase the pay for Zhao, I think he will leave."