Motorola Inc has taken a "significant" minority stake in China's top semiconductor maker, SMIC, and sold the fledgling company a little used chip plant in the country, the two firms said on Monday.

The announcement marked the completion of a deal first announced in October and comes a week after Motorola, the world's second-largest cellphone maker, signed deals to sell Chinese telecoms companies US$1.1 billion of equipment.

Executives for Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) refused to disclose the terms of the deal or by how much the plant would boost its capacity. Motorola executives were not available for comment.

The plant in the northern city of Tianjin was estimated to have cost more than US$1 billion to build, but had lain largely dormant as global chip prices plunged during the industry's worst-ever downturn.

"SMIC will act as a strategic foundry partner to Motorola," the companies said in a statement. "Motorola has retained an interest in MOS-17 (the Tianjin plant) by becoming one of the significant equity-holders in SMIC, and is entitled to a seat on SMIC's board of directors."

The deal comes as SMIC tries to raise funds amid doubts over a planned US$1 billion Hong Kong initial public offering in 2004.

The IPO was thrown into question after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world's largest maker of made-to-order chips, sued SMIC for patent infringement. The Chinese company has yet to comment on how it would tackle the suit.

SMIC said on Monday it had secured $285 million in a five-year credit deal to expand three existing chip plants in Shanghai. It is also building a foundry in Beijing. SMIC began making eight-inch semiconductor wafers in September 2001 and executives had hoped it would break even by the end of 2003.

Motorola had been seeking buyers for the plant as part of a revamp of its unprofitable semiconductor businesses.

The moribund site should now run at full capacity under SMIC's stewardship, which started on Monday. SMIC would not lay off any employees, both companies added.

SMIC, which spent $600 million on capital equipment last year, is planning to ramp up capacity to more than 80,000 wafers a month by the end of 2004.

Its five-year credit line, which can be drawn down in stages, was signed with four domestic banks -- Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, SMIC said.

That loan comes after the company borrowed US$480 million in December 2001, and a successful US$630 million private share placement conducted in September 2003. Existing investors in SMIC include Hong Kong-listed Shanghai Industrial Holdings Ltd., controlled by the city's government, U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs and Singapore's investment vehicle Temasek Holdings.

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