China Semiconductors (H): Takeaways from China Conf & AI/Tech Tour: continued strength in AI-led demand

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China Semiconductors (H): Takeaways from China Conf & AI/Tech Tour: continued strength in AI-led demand

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China Semiconductors (H)

Takeaways from China Conf & AI/Tech

Tour: continued strength in AI-led demand

Industry Overview

Key takeaways from China Conference & AI/Tech Tour 19 May 2026

We hosted investor meetings with the management of 10+ semiconductor companies Equity

(e.g. Montage, InnoScience, Horizon Robotics, Black Sesame, Axera, Espressif Systems, China

SICC and etc) at BofA China Conference in Shenzhen and China AI/Tech Tour in Shanghai Semiconductors

over the past week. Daley Li, CFA >>

Research Analyst

Key takeaways include: (1) Memory interface chips: DDR5 upgrade cycle remains intact, Merrill Lynch (Hong Kong)

with ongoing sub-gen mix shift (Gen3/Gen4) and emerging architectures (e.g., MRDIMM) +852daley.li2@bofa.com3508 5365

driving structural content growth with better CPU demand in AI workloads; (2) Edge AI Owen Wang >>

SoC & applications: traditional consumer electronics demand (e.g., wearables, IoT) Research Analyst

Merrill Lynch (Hong Kong)

remains soft, but recovery is underway QoQ, with incremental growth increasingly driven +852 3508 6533

by AI-enabled devices such as smart glasses, AI wearables and smart home; (3) owen.wang2@bofa.com

Autonomous driving: continued technology progress (e.g., model efficiency, integration) Harry Zhuang >>

is accelerating penetration into mass-market vehicles, while localization trends and Merrill Lynch (Hong Kong)

L3/L4 deployment (e.g., robotaxi) support demand for domestic solutions; (4) GaN: +852 3508 7998 harry.zhuang@bofa.com

industry adoption in AIDC progressed well with GaN mass-shipment in 2027E, along with

the Rubin Ultra NVL576 launch. Overall, we see AI as the key unifying theme, with