By Che Pan and Eduardo Baptista
BEIJING, Nov 13 (Reuters) – China’s biggest contract chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), said on Friday that the artificial intelligence industry was still in its early stages and demand remained strong.
SMIC Co-CEO Zhao Haijun made the comment in response to a question about whether the AI industry was forming a bubble.
• Many customers that need computing resources still face shortages, Zhao said
• The semiconductor supply chain for AI-related applications will stay tight through 2027 on demand from data centres and private clouds, Zhao said
• Memory chip supply and demand should reach balance toward the middle to end of 2028, Zhao said
• SMIC expects full-year revenue to exceed $1.2 billion as its capacity utilization rate continues to rise
• The company faces longer lead times for equipment, with some orders taking more than 24 months to deliver, which would affect its capital spending this year
• SMIC’s depreciation expense will rise about 30% year-on-year in 2026, Zhao said
(Reporting by Che Pan and Eduardo Baptista; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
