In the early morning of November 12, SMIC announced last night that Jiang Shangyi resigned as SMIC’s vice chairman, executive director and member of the strategy committee of the board of directors, effective immediately.

The position of SMIC Executive Director and Co-CEO Liang Mengsong has also been adjusted. He no longer serves as an executive director and will focus on the responsibilities of SMIC’s co-CEO.

1. Jiang Shangyi resigned, Liang Mengsong only served as co-CEO

According to the announcement, Jiang Shangyi will resign as vice chairman, executive director and member of the strategy committee of the board of directors of SMIC from November 11, 2021 because he wants to spend more time with his family.

In order to focus on fulfilling his responsibilities as co-CEO of SMIC, Liang Mengsong has resigned as an executive director since November 11 and will continue to serve as co-CEO of SMIC.

With the adjustment of Jiang Shangyi and Liang Mengsong’s positions, there are also changes in the members of SMIC’s board of directors and subordinate compensation committees and audit committees.

SMIC Zhou Jie resigned as a non-executive director, a member of the remuneration committee and a member of the audit committee; Yang Guanglei resigned as an independent non-executive director and a member of the remuneration committee. The reasons for the resignation of the two were “job needs” and “in order to focus on other businesses”.

The announcement specifically pointed out that the above-mentioned personnel have confirmed that they have no disagreement with the board of directors of SMIC, and there are no other matters related to the resignation that should be concerned by the shareholders of SMIC. The above changes have no significant impact on SMIC’s operation and management. The board of directors expresses its gratitude to Jiang Shangyi, Liang Mengsong, Zhou Jie and Yang Guanglei for their contributions.

In addition, independent non-executive directors Fan Renda and Liu Ming serve as members of the remuneration committee, and independent non-executive director Liu Zunyi serves as a member of the audit committee, effective November 11, 2021.

▲List of members of SMIC’s board of directors and its four subordinate committees

2. Jiang Shangyi, Liang Mengsong, and Yang Guanglei are all former generals of TSMC

Jiang Shangyi and Liang Mengsong are both SMIC and industry benchmark figures. They are also key figures in TSMC’s 0.13μm process and catching up to surpass IBM.

After leaving TSMC in 2009, Liang Mengsong worked as a professor at Tsinghua University in Taiwan and Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea. After the non-compete agreement expired, Liang Mengsong joined Samsung Electronics in South Korea in 2011 as the chief technology officer of the LSI department. Under his leadership, the process gap between Samsung Electronics and TSMC has rapidly narrowed, which has also triggered TSMC’s dissatisfaction and prosecution.

In 2017, at the invitation of Zhou Zixue, chairman of SMIC, Liang Mengsong joined SMIC as co-CEO and other positions.

Jiang Shangyi is also a veteran of TSMC. He has led and participated in the research and development of a series of key node processes from 0.25μm to 16nm.

In 2013, Jiang Shangyi officially retired from TSMC. In December 2016, 70-year-old Jiang Shangyi joined SMIC as an independent non-executive director. He did not participate in SMIC’s advanced technology research and development due to a verbal agreement with TSMC founder Zhang Zhongmou.

In June 2019, SMIC announced that Jiang Shangyi would not be re-elected due to personal reasons and other work commitments. After that, Jiang Shangyi became the CEO of Wuhan Hongxin, and resigned as the director, general manager and CEO of Wuhan Hongxin in June 2020.

In December 2020, SMIC issued another announcement, appointing Jiang Shangyi as the vice chairman of the SMIC Board of Directors, the second-class executive director, and a member of the Strategy Committee.

▲Liang Mengsong (left) and Jiang Shangyi (right)

Although Jiang Shangyi served as TSMC’s vice president of R&D during his time at TSMC, Liang Mengsong served as a senior R&D director under him.

However, after Jiang Shangyi joined SMIC again, it triggered rumors that Liang Mengsong intended to resign, which was later confirmed by SMIC’s announcement. Subsequently, Liang Mengsong and Jiang Shangyi both stayed at SMIC, and Liang Mengsong’s resignation was put on hold for the time being.

In contrast, Zhou Jie and Yang Guanglei are less recognized in the eyes of the public. Zhou Jie has previously served as management in Shanghai SIIC Asset Management Co., Ltd., Shanghai Industrial Pharmaceutical Technology (Group) Co., Ltd., Shanghai Industrial Holdings Co., Ltd., and Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group. In 2009, Zhou Jie served as a non-executive director of SMIC, and he also served as chairman and party secretary of Haitong Securities.

Yang Guanglei, like Jiang Shangyi, is a retired TSMC executive and once served as the head of TSMC’s R&D department. In 2018, Yang Guanglei retired from TSMC; in 2019, he became an independent non-executive director of SMIC.

3. Six important personnel changes have occurred since Jiang Shangyi joined

Since Jiang Shangyi joined SMIC again in December last year, SMIC’s board directors and core technicians have changed a total of 6 times.

On December 31, 2020, Cong Jingsheng, an independent non-executive director of SMIC, resigned from this position due to US concerns and restrictions on SMIC.

On February 4, 2021, Liu Ming was appointed as the third type of independent non-executive director and a member of the Strategy Committee of SMIC.

On May 13, 2021, Tong Guohua resigned from SMIC’s first-class non-executive director and a member of the remuneration committee of the board of directors due to work arrangements; Lu Guoqing, nominated by China Information and Communications Technology Group Co., Ltd., was appointed as the first-class non-executive director and a member of the Remuneration Committee; Huang Deng is a second-class non-executive director and a member of the Nomination Committee of the Board of Directors.

On July 5, 2021, Wu Jingang, a core technical staff of SMIC, applied for his resignation due to personal reasons and completed the relevant resignation procedures.

On September 4, 2021, Zhou Zixue, chairman and executive director of SMIC, resigned as chairman and chairman of the nomination committee of the board of directors due to personal reasons; executive director, chief financial officer and company secretary Gao Yonggang was appointed as the acting director of SMIC Chairman of the Board of Directors, perform the duties of the Chairman, and serve as the Chairman of the Nomination Committee of the Board of Directors.

There is also the resignation of Jiang Shangyi and the adjustment of SMIC’s board of directors. In contrast, SMIC’s board members change more frequently, and some core technical personnel leave their posts. The departure of Jiang Shangyi this time may have a certain impact on SMIC’s future operations.

Conclusion: SMIC’s performance hit a record high, or Jiang Shangyi’s confidence to resign

As a veteran of TSMC, Jiang Shangyi has strong technical strength and a huge influence in the industry. Since he joined SMIC, he has played a role in promoting SMIC’s advanced packaging technology.

But it is worth noting that Jiang Shangyi was over seventy when he first joined SMIC. Now Jiang Shangyi is 75 years old and needs more time to spend with his family. This time, SMIC also disclosed its third-quarter financial report, and the revenue and gross profit reached new highs, which may be the confidence that Jiang Shangyi can resign with confidence.