TREE NEWS update: SMIC co-CEO Zhao Haijun said the company expects fourth-quarter revenue to rise 4% to 6% sequentially, defying the industry’s traditional off-season. Weaker handset and consumer orders are being offset by shifting freed-up capacity to high-demand, higher-value products such as specialty memory and BCD, with shipments seen holding steady and average selling prices rising on product mix and market pricing. Gross margin guidance is unchanged at 26% to 28%.
TREE NEWS reports: SMIC co-CEO Zhao Haijun said on the company’s third-quarter earnings call that China accounted for 90.8% of quarterly sales revenue, versus 7.8% from the US, with China revenue rising 7% quarter on quarter. He attributed the gain to Chinese customer demand growing faster than the company’s overall demand, prompting SMIC to allocate capacity accordingly. By wafer size, 12-inch and 8-inch wafers made up 79% and 21% of wafer revenue, with revenue up 9% and 4% QoQ respectively.
TREE NEWS update: SMIC co-CEO Zhao Haijun said at the company’s third-quarter earnings call that AI demand is expected to lengthen the semiconductor industry’s upcycle, changing both its growth structure and cyclical shape. He also said localization across the supply chain continues, and SMIC will expand capacity guided by customer demand while stabilizing EBITDA and improving cost control and operational efficiency.
TREE NEWS reports: Jensen Huang had a relationship with another Nvidia employee, Reuters reported, hours after he resigned as CEO. The report alleges a third affair involving the former Nvidia chief executive. No further details were provided in the material.
TREE NEWS reports: The Shanghai Composite opened at 3658.72 on the latest session, up 0.08%. The Shenzhen Component rose 0.34% to 11236.16 and the ChiNext Index gained 0.64% to 2525.39. The CSI 300 opened 0.10% higher at 4047.77, while the STAR 50 led gains with a 1.56% rise to 1330.28.
TREE NEWS reports: Singapore’s Straits Times Index dropped 1% on the session, extending a decline for the benchmark gauge of the city-state’s largest listed companies. The move reflects broad weakness across the index’s constituents.
TREE NEWS update: The People’s Bank of China conducted 364 billion yuan of overnight reverse repurchase operations at an interest rate of 1.25% on Thursday, alongside 300 billion yuan of seven-day reverse repos. The combined open market operations injected liquidity into the banking system.
TREE NEWS reports: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index opened 0.57% lower at 23,871.91 on Thursday, while the Hang Seng Tech Index slipped 0.35%. Among individual names, Iluvatar CoreX rose more than 7%, and Hua Hong Semiconductor and SMIC each gained over 2%.
TREE NEWS reports: The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index rose 1% to 257.68 on the latest reading, marking a broad gain across the region’s equity markets. The move reflects a session of positive performance for Asia-Pacific stocks tracked by the benchmark. No further details were provided.
TREE NEWS reports: The People’s Bank of China set the yuan’s daily midpoint at 6.7152 per dollar on Wednesday, 22 pips stronger than the previous fix of 6.7174. The prior official close stood at 6.6689, while the overnight session ended at 6.6745.
TREE NEWS update: SMIC’s third-quarter sales rose 6.1% quarter-on-quarter to a record $3.19 billion, exceeding the upper end of its guidance, co-CEO Zhao Haijun said at the company’s Q3 earnings call. Faster-than-expected customer pull for AI-support chips including BCD, specialty memory and controllers drove the beat. The average wafer price rose 1.8% quarter-on-quarter as negotiated price increases were phased in and the product mix improved.
TREE NEWS update: OPPO has formally established a new AI hardware laboratory to accelerate product planning and R&D for AI-native devices, with Jiang Yuchen, formerly director of smart product R&D for ColorOS, appointed as its head. The lab’s creation is part of the company’s push to build out AI-native hardware.
TREE NEWS reports: The US Treasury is questioning banks about artificial intelligence in payments, the Wall Street Journal reported. The inquiry focuses on how lenders are deploying AI in payment flows, though the Treasury has not disclosed the scope of its questions or which banks received them. No further details on the probe’s timing or objectives were provided.
TREE NEWS update: Xi Jinping will attend the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting and related events. The statement did not specify the dates or location of the meeting. APEC’s 33rd leaders’ summit is scheduled to be hosted by China in 2026.
TREE NEWS reports: Taiwan’s Taiex weighted stock index opened 2% higher at 43,972.22 points. The early gain marked a sharp move for the benchmark at the start of trading.
TREE NEWS reports: Ethylene glycol’s main contract rose more than 4% at the open of Chinese commodity futures trading, with styrene up over 3% and pure benzene, glass and container shipping (Europe route) gaining nearly 3%. LU fuel oil, asphalt, propylene, BR rubber, fuel oil and lithium carbonate each climbed more than 2%. Precious metals fell, with Shanghai silver down over 3% and palladium and Shanghai gold down more than 2%.
TREE NEWS reports: FTSE China A50 index futures opened 0.22% higher on the latest session, following a 0.08% gain in the previous trading day’s night session. The early move extends a modest overnight advance in the Singapore-listed contract that tracks the largest mainland Chinese stocks.
TREE NEWS reports: Bitcoin sank to $70,600 as its four-week losses deepened, with Coinbase recording a fresh 28-day low on Thursday evening. Ether continued to underperform bitcoin over matched one- and four-week windows.
TREE NEWS reports: Gemini’s retail trading volume in the third quarter dropped to its lowest level in three years, even as the exchange’s overall trading activity rebounded during the period. The quarterly rebound masked a deepening slump in retail participation on the platform.
TREE NEWS update: US House members Mast, Moolenaar and Crawford sent a second inquiry letter to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and the company, escalating congressional scrutiny of the chipmaker. The letter follows an earlier request for information from the same lawmakers. No details of the new questions or Nvidia’s response were disclosed.