---
title: "China’s SMIC expects flat revenue as drop in low-end orders offsets AI growth"
description: "China’s largest contract chipmaker, SMIC, anticipates flat revenue for Q1 due to a decline in low-end orders, despite a surge in AI chip demand. In 2025, revenue rose 16.2% to $9.3 billion, with net p"
type: "news"
locale: "en"
url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/275557717.md"
published_at: "2026-02-11T06:03:26.000Z"
---

# China’s SMIC expects flat revenue as drop in low-end orders offsets AI growth

> China’s largest contract chipmaker, SMIC, anticipates flat revenue for Q1 due to a decline in low-end orders, despite a surge in AI chip demand. In 2025, revenue rose 16.2% to $9.3 billion, with net profit up 39% to $685.1 million. However, profits fell short of analyst expectations, leading to a 3% drop in Hong Kong shares. SMIC's co-CEO noted that strong AI demand has squeezed orders from lower-end product vendors. The company is positioned to address market demands and drive revenue growth in 2026, amid a global semiconductor supply crunch.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), China’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expected first quarter revenue to remain flat as a decline in low-end orders partly offset surging demand for chips used in artificial intelligence applications. SMIC reported on Tuesday that 2025 revenue increased 16.2 per cent from a year earlier to US$9.3 billion, while net profit surged 39 per cent to US$685.1 million. The growth was mainly due to increases in wafer shipment and utilisation rate, as well as changes in product mix, SMIC said. However, profit for both the full year and the fourth quarter fell short of analyst estimates, and the company’s Hong Kong-listed shares dropped 3 per cent to HK$69.40 on Wednesday morning. Its Shanghai-listed stock fell 1.3 per cent to 114.70 yuan. In an earnings call on Wednesday, Zhao Haijun, co-CEO of SMIC, said the company had seen orders from smartphone vendors and makers of other lower-end products “squeezed” by strong demand for AI chips, leading to the company’s flat revenue expectation. However, he added that the company was “still well positioned in the current industry development cycle”, adding that SMIC would proactively address urgent market demand to drive revenue growth in 2026. The industry is in the grip of a massive supply crunch for memory chips, as a frantic ramp-up of production for advanced chips to feed demand from AI data centres eats up global wafer capacity and drives up costs across the supply chain. This has forced some companies, including smartphone makers, to reduce production plans. Shanghai-based SMIC, which anchors Beijing’s drive for semiconductor self-reliance, shipped a total of 9.7 million wafers in 2025, up 21 per cent from 8 million a year earlier. Capacity utilisation rose by 8 percentage points year on year to 93.5 per cent. SMIC recently began a 10 per cent price increase across certain production lines, driven by a surge in demand for power-management chips and AI-related hardware, according to Chinese media reports in December. China’s push for chip self-sufficiency continues to drive domestic demand for SMIC’s products. “In 2025, the reshuffling effects driven by the shift towards localisation of the semiconductor industry chain continued throughout the whole year,” the company said. Fourth-quarter revenue grew 13 per cent from a year earlier to US$2.49 billion, beating an analyst estimate of US$2.42 billion. Profit attributable to shareholders jumped 61 per cent to US$172.9 million, but missed the estimate of US$183.3 million. Likewise, full-year 2025 revenue beat the analyst estimate of US$9.28 billion, but profit fell short of the expected US$706.5 million. Surging demand for chips used in AI computing pushed global semiconductor sales to a record US$791.7 billion in 2025, an increase of 25.6 per cent compared to 2024, according to the latest data released by the Washington-based Semiconductor Industry Association. For 2026, global sales are projected to reach US$1 trillion, it added. Major chipmakers are working to expand production capacity to meet the immense demand for AI-related chips. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, delivered an upbeat outlook when releasing its fourth-quarter results in January, reassuring investors about the sustainability of AI spending. Its quarterly revenue increased 20.5 per cent from a year earlier to NT$1.05 trillion (US$33 billion), while net income increased 35 per cent year on year.

### Related Stocks

- [159636.CN - ICBCCS CNI HK Connect Technology ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/159636.CN.md)
- [159995.CN - ChinaAMC Guozheng Semiconductor Chip ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/159995.CN.md)
- [159131.CN - Hwabao WP CSI HK Connect Information Technology Composite ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/159131.CN.md)
- [588170.CN - ChinaAMC SSE STAR Semiconductor Material & Equipment Thematic ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/588170.CN.md)
- [07552.HK - XI2CSOPHSTECH](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/07552.HK.md)
- [159516.CN - Guotai CSI Semiconductor Material Equipment Theme ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/159516.CN.md)
- [688981.CN - SMIC](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/688981.CN.md)
- [00981.HK - SMIC](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/00981.HK.md)

## Related News & Research

| Title | Description | URL |
|-------|-------------|-----|
| 中芯國際在創紀錄的業績與利潤壓力風險之間進行權衡 | 中芯國際（SEHK:981）報告稱，2025 年年收入和季度利潤創下紀錄，得益於強勁的芯片需求和本地化努力。然而，公司預計由於產能擴張帶來的折舊成本上升，2026 年將面臨利潤壓力。儘管過去一年股價上漲了 54.4%，但截至目前股價已下跌  | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/275899666.md) |
| 中芯國際的收益因芯片需求強勁而超出預期 | 這家總部位於上海的公司報告第四季度淨利潤同比增長 61%，達到 1.7285 億美元，超過 FactSet 調查的分析師預期的 1.395 億美元 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/275446178.md) |
| 【新股 IPO】【暗盤/中籤結果】AI 推理系統芯片 (SoC) 供應商愛芯元智 (600) 暗盤跌 4%，一手賬面蝕 116 元 | 人工智慧 (AI) 推理系統晶片 (SoC) 供應商愛芯元智將於 2 月 10 日掛牌，今日暗盤交易顯示其股價較定價 28.2 元下跌 4.11%，每手 100 股帳面損失 116 元。暗盤交易場中，輝立最新價 27 元，跌幅 4.255% | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/275302241.md) |
| 中芯國際電話會：AI 推高存儲需求導致 “大家有點慌”，8 英寸產能超滿載，資本開支維持 81 億美元高位 | 中芯國際聯席 CEO 趙海軍透露，2025 年 Q4 公司業務呈現 “淡季不淡” 特徵，12 英寸產能接近滿載。AI 對存儲的強勁需求持續推高高端與中高端訂單，同時 “擠壓” 了手機等中低端市場。在收入創歷史新高的同時，公司毛利率階段性承壓 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/275541642.md) |
| AI 淘金熱變成 AI 恐慌潮！華爾街新共識：躲開一切可能被顛覆的公司 | 投資者不再熱衷於尋找 AI 贏家，而是急於拋售任何可能被 AI 顛覆的公司股票，這種” 先賣出、再提問” 的恐慌情緒正在從軟件行業蔓延至金融服務、財富管理、保險經紀和法律服務等多個領域。寧願錯殺也不願承擔被 AI 顛覆風險的心態正在重塑華爾 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/275557016.md) |

---

> **Disclaimer**: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.