[News] SMIC, Hua Hong Report Strong Q2 Utilization; Trump Tariff Impact Expected to Be Limited

China’s two leading foundries, SMIC and Hua Hong Semiconductor, have released their second-quarter 2025 earnings. According to Reuters, China’s largest chipmaker SMIC reported a 19.5% year-on-year decline in second-quarter profit. In a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the company stated that profit attributable to owners stood at $132 million, Barron’s reports.

SMIC posted second-quarter revenue of $2.2 billion, representing a 16.2% increase year-on-year but a 1.7% decline compared to the previous quarter, as also noted by Barron’s. Regionally, China contributed 84.1% of SMIC’s revenue, followed by the U.S. at 12.9% and the Eurasian region at 3%, according to ijiwei.

Notably, U.S. tariffs on imported chips are expected to have limited impact on SMIC and Hua Hong Semiconductor, according to South China Morning Post, citing a research note by CLSA. This view aligns with customs data cited by South China Morning Post, which shows China expanding its share of integrated circuit (IC) exports—including memory chips—to Southeast Asian markets.

As noted by Reuters, SMIC said on Friday that U.S. tariffs had not caused the “hard landing” it once feared, and strong domestic demand is expected to keep its capacity tight through October. Co-CEO Zhao Haijun said the company isn’t consulting customers on President Trump’s proposed 100% chip tariff, expecting limited impact due to contingency plans made after April’s tariffs. He added that earlier rounds of tariffs had raised costs for overseas customers by less than 10%.

Meanwhile, SMIC’s capacity utilization rate rose significantly in the second quarter, nearing full capacity. The financial results show a utilization rate of 92.5%—up 2.9 percentage points from the previous quarter and 7.3 points higher than the same period last year, ijiwei reports.

Hua Hong Hits Record Capacity Utilization in Q2

China’s second-largest chipmaker, Hua Hong Semiconductor, reported second-quarter 2025 sales revenue of $566 million, an 18.29% year-on-year increase mainly driven by higher wafer shipments, according to the Hong Kong Economic Journal. Profit attributable to owners of the company reached $7.95 million, up 19.2% from a year earlier, FINET.HK reports.

ijiwei highlights that Hua Hong’s capacity utilization rate hit a record high of 108.3% in the second quarter—up from 102.7% in the first quarter and 97.9% a year earlier.

By region, sales revenue from China increased 21.8% to $469 million, while revenue from North America rose 13.2% to $53 million, as indicated by its earnings report.

Read more

• [News] China’s A-Share Chip M&A Boom: 73+ Applications Reportedly in 18 Months, $55B Deal Value in 2024
• [News] SMIC Offloads Ningbo Stake to Local Chipmaker Goke Micro in Strategic Move

(Photo credit: SMIC)