Editing by William Zhang 

SiEn (芯恩) -  the semiconductor company established by Richard Chang, founder of China's SMIC, announced on August 2 that its 8-inch fab went into successful production in coastal Qingdao city, Shandong Province in eastern China, JW Insights learned.

SiEn is the 3^rd entrepreneurship by Richard Chang, 73, on China’s mainland. The 1^st production of power chips is said to achieve over 90% yield; the photomask factory also completed product delivery at the same time.

Sources familiar with the matter disclosed to JW Insights that SiEn undertook 1^st  tape-out order in late June and completed 1^st batch of products with a 90% yield on July 3. The second batch of more complex products was done later, also with a 90% yield.

SiEn's 12-inch fab in Qingdao will also start production on August 15, the source said.

Richard Chang told his employees at a town hall meeting on August 2: "We must be patient, confident, and determined. With more perseverance, we will succeed in the project and make contributions to China's semiconductor industry. "

Dr. Richard Chang launched the SiEn project in May 2018, when a signing ceremony was held for it as the first CIDM IC project in China. The original plan was for the project to be put into initial production by the end of 2019 and operate at full capacity in 2022. But the project did not go plain sailing afterward with the pandemic outbreak and other issues. It was the widespread IC shortages in late 2020 that pushed the project to speed up again.  

According to press reports, the total investment of SiEn is around RMB15 billion($2.3 billion)  and RMB7.8 billion ($1.2 billion) for the first phase to complete mass production of 8-inch and 12-inch wafers. 

SiEn reportedly has over 1,000 employees with an average age of 33 years old. Over 300 are industry veterans, and all the executives have worked for famous semiconductor companies at home and abroad.

As of July 1, 2021, SiEn filed 259 patent applications, with 243 accepted for patent examination.

Richard Chang founded SMIC in 2000. He left the company in 2009 and went into the business of investing in LED technologies and products before he went to Qingdao to start SiEn.