Chinas largest chipmaker SMIC posts a 80% drop in third-quarter profit
Summary
(Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images) Chinas largest chipmaker SMIC on Thursday posted a 80% drop in third-quarter profit as global demand weakness hit foundries hard. SMIC, or Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co., posted revenue of $1.62 billion in the third quarter of the year, down 15% year-on-year. SMIC is Chinas biggest foundry, manufacturing semiconductor chips that other firms design. The firm is seen as a key hope to Beijings ambitions to boost its domestic semiconductor industry and catch up with rivals like Taiwans TSMC and South Koreas Samsung — even as the U.S. continues to curb Chinas chipmaking technology and exports. An ongoing slump in demand for certain chips that go into consumer products, such as memory, has badly impacted SMIC, as well as the likes of its Asian rivals TSMC and Samsung.