Favored by 5G, SMIC Raises Financial Projections

Technology Author: Skye Lan Editor: Luke Sheehan Oct 16, 2020 02:13 AM (GMT+8)

...foreseeing revenue growth of 22%.

Image credit: ThisisEngineering RAEng/Unsplash

On October 15, SMIC announced it was to increase its growth projections for financials during the third quarter of 2020. The updated month-over-month growth for revenue is anticipated to range between 14% to 16%, risen from 1% to 3%, and the m-o-m growth for gross profit margin is expected to reach 23% to 25%, increased from 19% to 21%. 

The favorable improvements come thanks to the changes in the product portfolio that are mainly led by the price inflation in the eight-inch wafer,  and the increase in some other businesses, based on the company’s press release. 

This allies to the statements from the co-CEO of SMIC, Zhao Haijun, made two months ago – that the application of 5G had brought higher demands for certain fine standards in chips, and therefore pushed up the price on the eight-inch wafer. SMIC will increase its monthly production by 30,000 pieces more on such wafers, and 20,000 more on the 12-inch ones. 

In the second quarter of 2020, SMIC also performed well. The revenue increased year-over-year by 18.7% to USD 938 million, and the quarterly net income reached a historic high of USD 138 million. The gross profit margin in the first and second quarters was reported as 26.5% and 25.8%, respectively.