Overview
- SMIC reported a Q2 2026 net profit of $479.2 million and revenue of $3.0 billion, results the company disclosed on Thursday that beat analyst margin estimates.
- The companies said strong domestic demand for AI-related chips — especially inference chips, edge processors and accelerators that can be made on mature and mid-range process nodes — was the primary driver of the gains.
- SMIC told investors it will flexibly reallocate existing capacity and accelerate new production lines to ease shortages as utilization climbed to about 93.7% and wafer shipments rose quarter to quarter.
- The firm raised prices for its most sought-after wafer capacity, lifting average selling prices by roughly 5.7%, and guided for 2–4% sequential revenue growth in Q3 2026.
- U.S. export controls continue to limit access to cutting-edge equipment, so SMIC and smaller rival Hua Hong — which posted triple-digit profit growth and record revenue in Q2 — are competing by scaling mid-node production to meet China’s fast-growing AI needs.