AI Chip Concept Stocks Watch | SMIC (00981.HK) rose nearly 7%, SK hynix chairman reiterates "memory shortage"

newtimespace reported, on August 17, 2026, chip-related themes strengthened sharply, with SMIC (00981.HK) surging in intraday fluctuations. As of 13:33, the stock was quoted at HK$75.550, up 6.71%.

On the news front, recently the chairman of SK hynix re-emphasized the explosive growth in memory demand, stating that the most severe "memory shortage" will emerge next year. SK hynix said it will invest US$38.4 billion in South Korea to build a wafer fab, in response to the continuously growing memory chip demand in the AI era.

Ping An Securities pointed out that the two major mainland wafer fabs, SMIC and HUA HONG GRACE, both delivered impressive second-quarter results, with revenue and profit each more than doubling year-on-year, confirming the strong pull-through effect of AI and spillover demand. Capacity bottlenecks in key segments such as High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and advanced packaging are expected to persist through 2027; the industry's upward upcycle trend is clear, and the high utilization rates at the manufacturing end and the pass-through of price hikes will continue to strengthen order visibility for upstream equipment and materials segments.

SMIC (00981.HK)Provides IC wafer foundry and related technical services. It is the largest pure-play wafer foundry in China by capacity and offers the broadest coverage of process nodes. Its mature and select advanced process lines address applications including smart terminals, IoT, and computing chips. Based on its periodic disclosures, wafer shipments, capacity utilization, and revenue are at historically high levels.

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