Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $3.006 billion, up 20% sequentially from $2.506 billion in Q1 and approximately 36% from $2.209 billion in the year-ago quarter. The results indicate a significant acceleration in foundry demand during the quarter.
Gross profit increased to $760.6 million, compared with $503.6 million in Q1 2026 and $449.8 million in Q2 2025. Gross margin expanded sharply to 25.3%, up 5.2 percentage points sequentially from 20.1% and 4.9 percentage points from 20.4% a year earlier.
Management attributed the improving industry environment partly to continued momentum and spillover effects from artificial intelligence. SMIC expects these trends to persist during the second half of 2026 and drive broader demand for integrated-circuit manufacturing rather than remaining concentrated solely in processors directly associated with AI.
For the third quarter, SMIC expects revenue to increase another 2% to 4% sequentially. Based on Q2 revenue, this implies approximately $3.07 billion to $3.13 billion in Q3 sales. Gross margin is forecast at 26% to 28%, representing further improvement from the second quarter.
SMIC said it plans to flexibly allocate its existing manufacturing capacity while accelerating qualification of newly added capacity. The objective is to help address supply constraints emerging across the semiconductor industry chain as demand strengthens.
Original – Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation