The global AI boom is driving orders back to Chinese foundries as overseas rivals shift production towards high-margin AI chips and high-bandwidth memory, creating a shortage in mature-node semiconductors, according to the head of China’s top contract chipmaker.“AI demand has directly pushed power-management and other mature capacity into shortage,” said Zhao Haijun, co-CEO of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), during the company’s first-quarter earnings call on Friday.Zhao noted that the squeeze was prompting consumer electronics and IoT customers to seek capacity in China" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="12537" data-entity-type="location">Mainland China – a trend reinforced by electric vehicle demand, a robotics boom, domestic supply-chain localisation, and companies stockpiling.
SRCSouth China Morning Post
LANGEN
LEANCenter-Right
WORDS101
ENT9
FRI · 2026-05-15 · 09:32 GMTBRIEF NSR-2026-0515-76458
NSR-2026-0515-76458News Report·EN·Technology
‘Panic’ over capacity crunch in mature node chips drives orders to Chinese foundries
The global AI boom is causing a capacity crunch for mature-node semiconductors, leading to increased orders for Chinese foundries. According to SMIC's co-CEO, Zhao Haijun, the high demand for AI chips has redirected production away from power-management and other mature nodes by overseas competitors.
Howard LiuSouth China Morning PostFiled 2026-05-15 · 09:32 GMTLean · Center-RightRead · 1 min
South China Morning PostFIG 01
Reading time
1min
Word count
101words
Sources cited
1cited
Entities identified
9entities
Quality score
100%
§ 01
Briefing Summary
AI-generatedNEWSAR · AI
The global AI boom is causing a capacity crunch for mature-node semiconductors, leading to increased orders for Chinese foundries. According to SMIC's co-CEO, Zhao Haijun, the high demand for AI chips has redirected production away from power-management and other mature nodes by overseas competitors. This shortage is prompting consumer electronics and IoT companies to seek manufacturing capacity in mainland China. The trend is further amplified by robust demand from the electric vehicle and robotics sectors, a push for domestic supply chain localization, and companies building up inventory.
Confidence 0.85Sources 1Claims 5Entities 9
§ 02
Article analysis
Model · rule-basedFraming
Technology
Economic Impact
Tone
Measured
AI-assessed
CalmNeutralAlarmist
Factuality
0.80 / 1.00
Factual
LowHigh
Sources cited
1
Limited
FewMany
§ 03
Key claims
5 extracted01
Domestic supply-chain localization and stockpiling are also contributing factors to the trend.
quoteSMIC co-CEO Zhao Haijun
Confidence
1.00
02
Consumer electronics, IoT, EV, and robotics sectors are seeking mature node capacity in China.
quoteSMIC co-CEO Zhao Haijun
Confidence
1.00
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AI demand has caused a shortage in power-management and other mature chip capacity.
quoteSMIC co-CEO Zhao Haijun
Confidence
1.00
04
Overseas rivals are shifting production to high-margin AI chips and high-bandwidth memory.
quoteSMIC co-CEO Zhao Haijun
Confidence
1.00
05
Global AI boom is driving orders back to Chinese foundries for mature-node chips.
quoteSMIC co-CEO Zhao Haijun
Confidence
1.00
§ 04
Full report
1 min read · 101 words§ 05
Entities
9 identifiedKey playerOppositionContextPositiveNeutralNegative
Organizations2
§ 06
Keywords & salience
9 termsmature node chips
1.00
ai boom
1.00
chinese foundries
0.90
capacity crunch
0.80
semiconductor shortage
0.70
ai chips
0.70
electric vehicle demand
0.50
consumer electronics
0.50
supply-chain localisation
0.40
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Topic connections
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