Shougang cuts cost estimate for chip plants

1 February 2002

The investment cost of a proposed new chip plant by steel giant Shougang Group will be 40 per cent lower than originally forecast because of falling equipment prices following the decline of the global chip market. In December 2000 the company announced plans to open five or six plants at a cost of US$1.3bn, but this has since fallen to about US$800m.

Officials from Shougang, also known as Capital Iron and Steel, is still looking to sign up a foreign partner experienced in semiconductors before it hopes to start production of eight-inch wafers by late next year.