- Cambricon’s hovering market worth displays investor hopes for China’s home AI {hardware} ecosystem
- Speedy income progress reveals the corporate’s monetary turnaround after years of losses
- Heavy reliance on one shopper and geopolitical restrictions elevate doubts about its long run sustainability
Cambricon Applied sciences has rapidly develop into one of many extra intently adopted names in China’s semiconductor trade.
The Beijing-based AI chip designer has seen its inventory value skyrocket not too long ago, at one level incomes it a market worth above RMB580 billion, roughly $81.2 billion.
That places it forward of the likes of MediaTek and SMIC, which could be very uncommon for an organization whose annual income nonetheless trails lots of its worldwide rivals.
Inevitable questions
Based by brothers Chen Tianshi and Chen Yunji in 2016, Cambricon has targeted on creating processors tailor-made for synthetic intelligence.
Its Siyuan product line has advanced quickly, with the Siyuan 590 chip mentioned to realize about 80% of the efficiency of Nvidia’s A100 whereas being constructed on a home 7nm course of.
A follow-up mannequin, the Siyuan 690, is predicted to be positioned towards Nvidia’s H100.
The agency’s monetary turnaround has actually been fast. It generated RMB28.81 billion (approx $4.03 billion) in income within the first half of 2025, which is greater than 40 occasions the determine a 12 months earlier.
Profitability has additionally improved, with RMB1.038 billion (round $145 million) in web revenue recorded over the identical interval, coming after years of losses.
For a lot of buyers, this has strengthened the view that Cambricon might type a central pillar in China’s efforts to construct a home AI {hardware} ecosystem.
Nonetheless, questions stay about fairly how sturdy this progress is, with many market watchers correctly asking questions, reminding me of what occurred with CoreWeave not so way back.
Practically all of Cambricon’s income comes from cloud chips utilized in coaching large-scale AI fashions, and most of its gross sales are tied to a handful of consumers.
Its largest shopper, unnamed however believed to be a serious cloud supplier, reportedly contributes the majority of income. Any change in spending by that buyer and Cambricon’s earnings might tank.
Cambricon additionally faces geopolitical pressures. It was positioned on Washington’s commerce blacklist in 2022, which restricts entry to abroad suppliers, forcing it to depend on native foundries as entry to TMSC can be blocked.
Huawei and others are all pushing AI {hardware} options that might win market share to Cambricon’s detriment.
Whether or not Cambricon can keep momentum will rely upon widening its buyer base, securing dependable manufacturing, and navigating a extremely contested home market.
Through TrendForce
