"From the advanced technology front, our 45nm low-power technology qualification progress is on-track and has shown test chip yield improvement. We completed licensed technology transfer from IBM on high-performance bulk-CMOS technology last quarter and process qualification is in progress in our Shanghai 300mm facility. Numerous customers are engaged in our lead-customer partnership and design-in activities, in parallel with SMIC’s silicon verification with IBM’s proven 45nm technologies. Furthermore, 65nm customer low-power product qualification is in its final stage. We are positioned to move into volume production in the third quarter of 2009.
In the first quarter, we have received strong orders reflecting recovering demand from 90nm and 130nm technology nodes. Furthermore, we see promising new tape-out activities in the first quarter, averaging more than one tape-out per day. We continue to forge more strategic alliances to better serve our customers; such as with Dolphin Integration for its ultra-low power digital-to-analog audio converters for the Portable Media Player market, and with FlipChip International for next-generation 300mm flip chip bumping and wafer level packaging."
