China's SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation) recently began 12-inch chip production at its Wuhan plant and announced a five-year strategic partnership with US-based Spansion, according to a SinoCast report. Via the partnership, AMD-Fujitsu joint venture Spansion will transition its 65nm and 43nm technologies to SMIC, and SMIC's Wuhan plant, named Wuhan Xinxin Semiconductor Manufacturing, will serve as a contract manufacturing base of MirrorBit Ornand2 memory devices for Spansion. At present the Wuhan plant has a monthly capacity of 3,000 12-inch chips, which is expected to increase to 30,000 units in 2010.

Meanwhile, AMD announced its decision to spin off its semiconductor fabs in a deal with ATIC (Advanced Technology Investment Co.) of Abu Dhabi, according to an Associate Press report. Tentatively named The Foundry Company, the new company will be headquartered in the United States. AMD will transfer its two fabs in Dresden, Germany, and related assets and IP (Intellectual Property) rights to The Foundry Company. At the same time, ATIC plans to invest a total of US$2.1 billion in its stake in the new company. Overall, ATIC expects to spend up to US$6.0 billion on expanding the production capacity of the Dresden fabs and constructing a new facility in Saratoga County, New York.