Last year sold nearly 120,000 cards, net profit surged 555%! Cambricon turned profitable for the full year, becoming the first enterprise to "graduate" from Science and Technology Innovation Growth Board

Cambricon Technologies (688256.SH) has finally announced its first profit report since going public.

Image source: TuChong Creative

On the evening of March 12, Cambricon disclosed its 2025 annual report. The company’s total revenue for the year was 6.497 billion yuan, a year-over-year increase of 453.21%; net profit attributable to shareholders was 2.059 billion yuan, turning from loss to profit with a 555.24% increase; net profit after non-recurring items was 1.77 billion yuan, up 304.63%; gross profit totaled 3.583 billion yuan, a 437.99% increase compared to the previous year.

Image source: Screenshot from Cambricon’s financial report

Along with turning profitable, Cambricon also announced that starting March 16, it will cancel its U stock designation and exit the Sci-Tech Innovation Board’s Growth Tier, becoming the first company to “graduate” from this tier.

On March 13, Caixin Finance contacted Cambricon regarding issues such as high customer concentration, significant inventory growth, and market competition response. As of press time, no reply had been received.

In its financial report, Cambricon stated that the significant revenue growth was mainly due to the sustained increase in demand for computing power in the artificial intelligence industry. The company continues to expand its market and promote the implementation of AI application scenarios.

Cambricon’s main business involves the research, design, and sales of AI core chips used in various cloud servers, edge computing devices, and terminal devices. Currently, the company’s main product lines include cloud products, edge products, IP licensing, and software.

Looking at product revenue, the cloud product line and IP licensing/software segments saw rapid growth, both reaching a 455% increase. The gross margin for the cloud products was 55.22%, a decrease of 1.47 percentage points year-over-year; the IP licensing and software segment achieved a 100% gross margin. Meanwhile, the revenue from the edge product line decreased by 48.12% year-over-year, with a gross margin of 44.52%, down 6.98 percentage points.

Image source: Screenshot from Cambricon’s financial report

In 2025, Cambricon’s production volume of intelligent chips and boards reached 127,700 units, a 409.84% increase; sales volume was 117,400 units, up 201.57%; inventory stood at 857,100 units, a slight increase of 0.63%.

Image source: Screenshot from Cambricon’s financial report

For comparison, according to a report by Ruixin Securities cited by Caixin, Huawei’s Ascend 910 series AI chips are expected to ship over 700,000 units in 2025. As of March 31, 2025, Muxi GPU sales exceeded 25,000 units. In 2024, market research firm IDC reported that Kunlun Chip shipped 69,000 units, while Cambricon’s shipments were about 26,000 units.

In terms of R&D, in 2025, Cambricon invested 1.169 billion yuan, a 9.03% increase from the previous year. R&D expenditure accounted for 17.99% of revenue. Since revenue growth far outpaced R&D investment growth, the R&D expense ratio relative to revenue decreased by 73.31 percentage points compared to last year. Currently, Cambricon has a R&D team of 887 employees, accounting for 80.13% of total staff, with over 80.95% holding master’s degrees or higher.

It is worth noting that Cambricon still faces high customer concentration issues. The financial report shows that over the past three years, the top five customers’ sales accounted for 92.36%, 94.63%, and 88.66% of total revenue, indicating high customer concentration. Among these, the third-largest customer is a long-term partner, while the other four are new customers added in 2025. The sales of the top five customers were 1.703 billion yuan, 1.401 billion yuan, 764 million yuan, and 655 million yuan, respectively.

Cambricon warns that if its major customers experience operational changes or demand slows, it could negatively impact the company’s performance. Additionally, the company faces pressure to develop new business with new customers. If expansion efforts do not meet expectations, it could also adversely affect operations.

Meanwhile, the top five suppliers accounted for 5.707 billion yuan in procurement, representing 75.23% of total annual procurement. The leading supplier’s purchases in 2025 totaled 4.198 billion yuan, accounting for 55.34% of the company’s annual procurement. The fourth and fifth suppliers, both new to the top five, each contributed 318 million yuan.

Furthermore, Cambricon faces a significant increase in inventory. As of the end of 2025, inventory value was 4.944 billion yuan, accounting for 36.79% of total assets, a 178.67% increase year-over-year. The company explained that this was mainly due to an increase in raw materials at the period’s end.

Cambricon also reminded in its financial report that in recent years, demand for raw materials in China’s semiconductor industry has continued to grow, with overall procurement prices rising. If upstream raw material prices continue to increase, it could negatively impact the company’s operations. The company plans to actively respond through strategic stockpiling and product iteration.

As of the close on March 13, Cambricon’s stock price fell 0.26%, closing at 1,096.10 yuan per share.