The deal was part of US$4.3 billion in agreements signed in San Francisco at a U.S.-China Hi-Tech Cooperation Forum Wednesday, the Chinese chipmaker said in an e-mailed statement.

The equipment will be used to produce 300-millimeter silicon wafers at Semiconductor Manufacturing plants in China, Reiko Chang, a spokeswoman for the Shanghai-based company said by telephone.

Semiconductor Manufacturing, whose customers include Infineon Technologies AG and Elpida Memory Inc., is expanding to compete with bigger rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which is expanding its Hsinchu plant.

Chip sales in China, the world’s biggest semiconductor market, may almost triple to US$111 billion in 2011 from US$39 billion in 2005 as more mobile phones, computers and digital music players are made in the nation, according to research company IC Insights Inc.

Semiconductor Manufacturing signed agreements with KLA-Tencor Corp., the second-largest U.S. chip equipment maker, Axcelis Technologies, Inc., Novellus Systems, Inc., Lam Research Corp. and Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc., according to the statement.

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