(Yicai Global) July 5 -- The vice president of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.’s Technology Research and Development Department has resigned from all positions at the firm for personal reasons, China’s biggest chipmaker said yesterday.

The departure of Wu Jingang, who joined the company in 2001, will not adversely affect SMIC’s R&D strengths, the Shanghai-based firm said. Wu headed SMIC’s research in fin field-effect transistors, a key structure for amplifying, controlling and generating electrical signals in integrated circuits.

There is speculation that conflict between Wu and co-Chief Executive Officer Liang Mengsong might be one of the reasons for his decision to leave, a former staff member told Yicai Global. Wu has agreed not to work for any of SMIC’s competitors over the next 12 months. There is no word on where he will go next.

Wu led the development of the firm’s first-generation FinFET process, which has now entered mass production. The first-generation FinFET process improved performance by 20 percent on the 14-nanometer process and reduced power consumption by 57 percent, Liang said earlier. It is generally believed in the industry to be on a par with rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s first-generation seven-nanometer process.

There is a second-generation FinFET process under development, but this has been affected by the firm’s recent inclusion in the US’ so-called Entity List, blocking access to US software and hardware.

SMIC’s Shanghai-listed shares [SHA:688981] were trading down 0.52 percent at CNY57.83 (USD8.95) as of 1:30 p.m. China time and its Hong Kong-listed stock [HKG:0981] had fallen 2.8 percent to HKD22.60 (USD2.91).

Editor: Kim Taylor