Increases in wafer shipments will be lower than originally forecast Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), China’s largest chip maker, updated its third-quarter guidance on Friday, saying expected increases in wafer shipments and its average selling price (ASP) will be lower than originally forecast.SMIC said third-quarter wafer shipments will rise by 6 percent to 7 percent over the previous quarter. Previously, the company had forecast wafer shipments would rise by 7.5 percent to 9.5 percent during the third quarter.SMIC also trimmed its forecast for an expected increase in its ASP. In July, the company said its ASP would rise by up to 10 percent. Now, the average selling price is expected to rise by 3 percent to 5 percent. SMIC blamed its revised guidance on a delay in the installation of equipment used to produce chips with more advanced production processes. The installation of this equipment and its qualification for production has been pushed back from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, it said.The company also cited DRAM (dynamic RAM) prices as a reason for its revised guidance.Despite the revisions to its guidance, SMIC remained generally upbeat about the state of the industry, noting that business conditions are expected to improve during the second half of the year. Rising demand for semiconductors should help SMIC return to profitability during the second half of this year, said Helen Lau, an analyst at Sun Hung Kai Investment Services in Hong Kong. SMIC has not turned a profit since the third quarter of 2004, she said. Technology Industry