At a November 13, 2026, earnings briefing, SMIC co-CEO Zhao Haijun said demand for chips used alongside artificial intelligence systems—including BCD, specialty memory and controller chips—grew faster than the company had expected. He said that demand helped push third-quarter sales above the top of SMIC’s guidance range.
SMIC reported third-quarter revenue of RMB 21.983 billion, up 28.1% from a year earlier, and net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 2.847 billion, up 87.6%. Under International Financial Reporting Standards, quarterly sales reached a record $3.19 billion, up 33.9% year over year and 6.1% from the previous quarter. Gross margin was 29.9%, an increase of 4.6 percentage points from the second quarter.
Zhao attributed the sequential sales increase to both higher shipments and higher average wafer prices. Shipments exceeded 3 million eight-inch-equivalent wafers for the first time, rising 5.7% quarter over quarter, while the average wafer price rose 1.8%. Capacity utilization reached 97.3%, up 3.6 percentage points, as the company adjusted production to meet customer demand.
China accounted for 90.8% of third-quarter sales, compared with 7.8% for the United States and 1.4% for Eurasia. Revenue from smartphones and consumer electronics fell 8% and 1%, respectively, from the previous quarter. Revenue from computers and tablets and from industrial and automotive applications each rose 26%, while interconnected and wearable applications rose 18%.
For the fourth quarter, SMIC forecast a 4%–6% sequential sales increase and a gross margin of 26%–28%. Zhao said higher depreciation and materials costs, along with more engineering and research-and-development wafer starts, could weigh on margin. Based on results for the first nine months and the midpoint of its fourth-quarter guidance, the company expects full-year sales to exceed $12 billion.
Zhao also said tight global equipment supply and uncertain delivery times for some tools could affect the execution of SMIC’s annual capital spending, although he did not expect them to prevent its planned capacity expansion in 2026.