SMIC's Zhao Haijun: AI computing power is in short supply, and semiconductor foundry capacity will be very tight in 2027.

At SMIC's Q3 2026 earnings call held today, SMIC Co-CEO Zhao Haijun expressed a positive outlook on the future development of the semiconductor foundry industry. He believes that AI development is currently "in the ascendant," with compute demand outstripping supply. The current industry consensus is that 2027 will be a year of very tight capacity, expected to last until mid-to-second half of 2028. After mid-2028, AI-related memory demand may reach a basic supply-demand balance, while compute or other supporting chips may remain in short supply.