(Yicai Global) March 31 -- Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing, a unit under state-owned China Electronics and better known as GTA Semiconductor, has opened the doors to its new CNY39.5 billion (USD5.1 billion) wafer factory in its hometown Shanghai.

The factory is in Lin-gang Special Area of the China Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone, the Shanghai Observer reported. The plant has the capacity to produce 60,000 eight-inch wafers, 3,000 12-inch wafers and 5,000 six-inch wafers a month and will reach mass production this year, it added.

The second phase of the factory will increase capacity of 12-inch wafers to 50,000 a month, the report added, saying the chips will mostly be used in the industrial, automotive and energy industries.

Founded in 2017, GTA absorbed and privatized Hong Kong-listed Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing the following year to become one of China's leading producers of insulated gate bipolar transistors.

Editor: James Boynton