A method for manufacturing a bonding wire having a diameter in the range of 8 to 80 μm and comprising a core with a surface, wherein the core comprises silver as a main component and at least one member selected from the group consisting of gold, palladium and platinum, characterized in that the bonding wire has at least one of the following combinations of properties: i) an average size of crystal grains of the core is between 0.8 μm and 3 μm, ii) the amount of crystal grains having an orientation in <001> direction in the cross section of the wire is in the range of 10 - 20 %, and iii) the total amount of crystal grains having an orientation in <001 > direction and of crystal grains having an orientation in <111> direction in the cross section of the wire is in the range of 15 - 40 %, or i) an average size of crystal grains of the core is between 0.8 μm and 3 μm, ii) the amount of crystal grains having an orientation in <111> direction in the cross section of the wire is in the range of 5 - 15 %, and iii) the total amount of crystal grains having an orientation in <001 > direction and ofcrystal grains having an orientation in <111> direction in the cross section of the wire is in the range of 15 - 40 %, or i) an average size of crystal grains of the core is between 0.8 μm and 3 μm, ii) the amount of crystal grains having an orientation in <001 > direction in the cross section of the wire is in the range of 10 - 20 %, and iii) the amount of crystal grains having an orientation in <111> direction in the cross section of the wire is in the range of 5 - 15 %, wherein the method comprises the steps of a. providing a wire core precursor, b. pulling the precursor until a final diameter of the wire core is reached, c. annealing the pulled wire at a minimum annealing temperature for a minimum annealing time, d. intermediate annealing of the wire core precursor at an intermediate annealing temperature in the range of 450 °C and 550 °C and for an intermediate annealing time in the range of 30 minutes and 120 minutes prior to step b, and e. cooling the wire after intermediate annealing from at least the intermediate annealing temperature down to room temperature, wherein the duration of the cooling step is at least half of the duration of the exposure time of the intermediate annealing or the same as the duration of the intermediate annealing step, wherein the core precursor has a diameter of at least 0,5 mm when exposed to the intermediate annealing step, wherein the diameter of the core during intermediate annealing does not exceed 10 mm, and wherein the diameter reduction ratio obtained by forming steps between the final wire diameter and the intermediately annealed core is chosen in a range of 0.1 to 0.002. i) an average size of crystal grains of the core is between 0.8 μm and 3 μm, ii) the amount of crystal grains having an orientation in <001> direction in the cross section of the wire is in the range of 10 - 20 %, and iii) the total amount of crystal grains having an orientation in <001 > direction and of crystal grains having an orientation in <111> direction in the cross section of the wire is in the range of 15 - 40 %, i) an average size of crystal grains of the core is between 0.8 μm and 3 μm, ii) the amount of crystal grains having an orientation in <111> direction in the cross section of the wire is in the range of 5 - 15 %, and iii) the total amount of crystal grains having an orientation in <001 > direction and ofcrystal grains having an orientation in <111> direction in the cross section of the wire is in the range of 15 - 40 %, i) an average size of crystal grains of the core is between 0.8 μm and 3 μm, ii) the amount of crystal grains having an orientation in <001 > direction in the cross section of the wire is in the range of 10 - 20 %, and iii) the amount of crystal grains having an orientation in <111> direction in the cross section of the wire is in the range of 5 - 15 %, a. providing a wire core precursor, b. pulling the precursor until a final diameter of the wire core is reached, c. annealing the pulled wire at a minimum annealing temperature for a minimum annealing time, d. intermediate annealing of the wire core precursor at an intermediate annealing temperature in the range of 450 °C and 550 °C and for an intermediate annealing time in the range of 30 minutes and 120 minutes prior to step b, and e. cooling the wire after intermediate annealing from at least the intermediate annealing temperature down to room temperature, wherein the duration of the cooling step is at least half of the duration of the exposure time of the intermediate annealing or the same as the duration of the intermediate annealing step, wherein the core precursor has a diameter of at least 0,5 mm when exposed to the intermediate annealing step,