By Sherry Qin
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. is scheduled to report first-quarter results on Thursday. Here's what you need to know:
NET PROFIT FORECAST: China's largest contract chip maker is expected to post a 19% rise in net profit to $223.6 million, according to a consensus estimate of 11 analysts polled by Visible Alpha.
REVENUE FORECAST: Revenue is projected to have risen 12% from a year earlier to $2.51 billion. This is in line with SMIC's guidance for flat revenue from the previous quarter.
SMIC's shares fell almost 30% in the first quarter amid concerns over rising depreciation costs from expanding capacity and yield issues in the ramp-up of more advanced technology. Higher memory costs and the Middle East conflict also weighed on the chip manufacturer's shares. However, SMIC's stocks have since rebounded, rising almost 50% in the current quarter alone, as broader market sentiment picked up after the U.S.-Iran cease-fire and Chinese startup DeepSeek launched its new large language model.
WHAT TO WATCH:
-- DeepSeek launched a preview of its V4 large language model last month and said it expects the pricing for V4-Pro to drop significantly after the launch of computing clusters powered by Huawei's Ascend 950 chips in the second half of the year. The development firms investors' belief that Chinese AI firms could gradually switch to domestic replacements, benefiting local chip designers names like Cambricon Technologies and foundries like SMIC. Markets will continue to watch SMIC's advanced chip-making capacity expansion and yield improvement.
-- SMIC co-chief executive Zhao Haijun said last quarter that the semiconductor industry is "a bit panicked" about a memory chip shortage driven by the artificial-intelligence boom, and the shortage could be amplified by overbooking. Foundries like SMIC have seen a decline in orders from mid- to low-end phone makers amid surging memory prices, Zhao said. Investors will be paying attention to management's latest comments on the memory shortage and its impact on SMIC's business.
Write to Sherry Qin at sherry.qin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 11, 2026 23:15 ET (03:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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