SMIC (00981) continued its upward momentum with gains exceeding 4%. As of press time, the stock was up 3.23% to HK$72, with trading volume reaching HK$4.461 billion.

On the news front, Goldman Sachs recently released a research report raising SMIC's H-share target price by 15% to HK$73.1. This optimistic outlook is primarily driven by positive views on China's IC design demand and artificial intelligence trends, which are expected to strongly support SMIC's production volume and average selling prices.

The investment bank also raised its revenue and earnings per share forecasts for the company for 2028-2029, noting that third-quarter 2025 revenue is expected to grow 5%-7% quarter-over-quarter, which could serve as a near-term stock price catalyst.

Notably, SMIC plans to issue A-shares to acquire a 49% minority stake in SMIC North. Cathay Haitong Securities indicated that upon completion, this will further strengthen the company's capacity expansion and local-for-local trends.

Additionally, domestic advanced process technologies continue to iterate, and AI chips are expected to gradually shift toward domestic foundries. As a core asset positioned in advanced processes, SMIC is poised to benefit from the broad domestic substitution opportunities in the AI era.