SMIC(688981) 长江商报· Chang Jiang Shang Bao·2025-05-12 00:35Core Viewpoint - Semiconductor foundry company SMIC reported strong growth in Q1 2025, with revenue reaching approximately 16.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of nearly 30%, and net profit attributable to shareholders of 1.356 billion yuan, up over 1.6 times [2][3] Group 1: Financial Performance - In Q1 2025, SMIC achieved revenue of 16.301 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 29.44%, and a net profit of 1.356 billion yuan, reflecting a 166.50% increase compared to the previous year [3] - The revenue and net profit for Q4 2024 were 15.917 billion yuan and 0.992 billion yuan, showing year-on-year changes of 30.98% and -13.55% respectively [3] - Despite the strong growth, Q1 performance was below expectations due to unexpected production issues affecting product quality and yield [5][6] Group 2: Operational Insights - The growth in performance was attributed to changes in international circumstances leading to increased customer orders, domestic consumption subsidies, and replenishment in the industrial and automotive sectors [5][10] - A sudden incident during annual maintenance affected product precision and yield, with expected impacts lasting four to five months [5][7] - The overall capacity utilization rate increased by 4.1 percentage points in Q1, with both 12-inch and 8-inch production capacities being utilized more effectively [5] Group 3: Research and Development - R&D expenditure decreased from 217 million USD in Q4 2024 to 149 million USD in Q1 2025, but the company plans to restore R&D investment as production capacity continues to expand [8] - SMIC has consistently invested over 4 billion yuan annually in R&D from 2018 to 2023, with a projected increase to 5.447 billion yuan in 2024, representing 9.4% of revenue [8][9] Group 4: Market Outlook - The company maintains a positive outlook for the second half of the year and next year, expecting sales to remain unaffected despite external uncertainties [10] - SMIC will not engage in price reductions to secure orders, although there is a noted downward trend in industry pricing [9][10]