AI Chip Concept Stocks Insight | SMIC (00981.HK) up 2.82%, Samsung to exit 8-inch foundry by end-2030

NewTimeSpace News, on 4 November 2026, AI chip stocks firmed, and SMIC (00981.HK) rose. As of 11:36, the company quoted HKD 43.820, up 2.82%.

On the news front, the company has no recent news of its own; within the sector, on 2 November 2026 media reports indicated that Samsung Electronics has decided to exit 8-inch wafer foundry entirely by the end of 2030 and has notified customers of the plan; its 8-inch processes span 65nm to 180nm and mainly serve power management chips, display driver ICs, microcontrollers and image sensors. Under the disclosed timetable, the Giheung S7 line will shut this year, with S6 and S8 winding down progressively. After the exit, those 8-inch orders will need to be taken up by other foundries, while SMIC's 8-inch lines have long run at full load.

In addition, on 3 November 2026 media reports indicated that, with power management chip demand surging, UMC's 8-inch and 12-inch mature-node capacity is fully loaded and it has turned down rush orders from Samsung; some constrained 12-inch mature-node processes have seen price increases of 5% to 10%, as foundries shift capacity toward higher-margin AI-related power management and power devices.

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.