Abstract: A bonding wire according to the invention contains a core having a surface and a coating layer which is at least partially superimposed over the surface of the core. The core contains a core main component selected from copper and silver and the coating layer contains a coating component selected from palladium, platinum, gold, rhodium, ruthenium, osmium and iridium. The coating layer is applied on the surface of the core by depositing a film of a liquid containing a coating component precursor onto a wire core precursor and heating the deposited film to decompose the coating component precursor into a metallic phase.