BRIEF: SMIC’s fourth-quarter revenue jumps, but profit falls

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (0981.HK; 688981.SH) said on Tuesday its revenue jumped 31.5% year-on-year to $2.21 billion in last year’s fourth quarter from $1.68 billion a year earlier on strong demand for its microchips. But its profit fell by 38.4% to $108 million, as it blamed a decrease in investment income.

China’s leading manufacturer of semiconductor microchips said its fourth-quarter gross margin was 22.6%, up more than 6 percentage points from 16.4% in the fourth quarter of 2023. The company derived 89.1% of its revenue from China in last year’s fourth quarter, up from 80.8% in the year-ago period. Meantime, its revenue from the Americas dropped to 8.9% of its total from 15.7% over that period.

SMIC’s Hong Kong-listed stock rose nearly 6% in Wednesday trade and has more than tripled since last September. Its Shanghai-listed shares rose 3.4%.

By Doug Young

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