The most-traded SHFE tin contract pulled back quickly after a slight rise during the night session, with sluggish trading in the spot market. [SMM Tin Morning News]

SMM Tin Morning Brief on January 29, 2026:

Futures: The most-traded SHFE tin contract (SN2603) pulled back quickly after a slight rise during the night session, closing at 442,800 yuan/mt, down 0.47%.

Macro: (1) Samsung Electronics' chip division's Q4 performance last year far exceeded expectations, with profits increasing more than fivefold, primarily driven by the booming artificial intelligence sector. The company also announced a $2.5 billion stock buyback plan. Samsung's semiconductor division reported an operating profit of KRW 16.4 trillion (approximately $114 billion) for the three months, surpassing analysts' average expectation of KRW 10.85 trillion. Its overall net profit was KRW 19.29 trillion, higher than the expected KRW 15.1 trillion. Samsung stated it would repurchase shares worth KRW 3.57 trillion. Samsung's stock price more than doubled in 2025 and surged about 35% this month, reflecting market expectations for significant earnings growth this year as memory chip prices rose faster than anticipated. (2) Musk stated that Tesla needs to build and operate a factory named "TeraFab" to produce semiconductors. This massive project will cost tens of billions of US dollars, marking a further expansion of the company's business scope beyond its core EV operations. "To eliminate potential capacity bottlenecks in the next three to four years, we must build a Tesla TeraFab," Musk said, "a very large-scale factory covering logic, memory, and packaging, and it will be produced in the US." Musk indicated that existing suppliers, including TSMC, Samsung, and Micron Technology, cannot meet Tesla's chip supply demands.

Fundamentals: (1) Supply side: Most smelters' production is expected to remain stable in January. (2) Demand side: Downstream procurement is relatively cautious, with high prices significantly suppressing actual consumption.

Spot market: Many downstream enterprises followed up with small orders based on rigid demand, focusing on digesting existing orders. End-user electronics enterprises faced strong cost pressure due to broad increases in metal sectors, significantly suppressing demand. As the Chinese New Year approaches, some enterprises have entered the holiday state early, resulting in sluggish trading in the spot market.

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