AAC Technologies CFO Guo Dan: Full-Year 2026 Revenue is Expected to deliver Double-Digit Growth, AI New Businesses Poised to Exceed RMB8 Billion in 2027

20 August 2026, AAC Technologies Holdings Inc. (HKG: 2018; AAC Technologies or the Group) today released its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2026. Revenue for the first half of 2026 (1H 2026) reached a record RMB14.51 billion, up 8.9% year-on-year (YoY). Net profit attributable to owners of the Company rose 2.9% YoY to RMB901 million. After excluding other gains and losses related to fair value gains and losses, the growth rate of net profit for the first half of the year stood at 37.4%.

This marks the third consecutive year the Group has achieved a record first-half revenue since pivoting toward AI-related new businesses. At the results briefing, CFO Guo Dan highlighted that AI new businesses have become the core driver of the Group’s top-line growth. As specialized business segments including liquid-cooling coolant distribution units (CDUs), wafer-level glass (WLG) optical communications, AR optical waveguide lenses and robotic motors ramp, the Group’s multi-engine growth model is accelerating, and the contribution from new businesses is set to expand further. Full-year 2026 revenue is expected to deliver double-digit growth, with the scale of AI new businesses potentially exceeding RMB8 billion in 2027.

( AAC Technologies CFO Guo Dan)

Full-year revenue is expected to deliver double-digit growth
Dan stated that despite external market pressures, management remains cautiously optimistic regarding full-year operations, expecting double-digit revenue growth with gross profit margin to improve steadily from the 22.4% recorded in 1H 2026.

By segment, the acoustics and electromagnetic drives business is expected to deliver single-digit full-year revenue growth, with gross margin likely to improve further from the 28.6% recorded in the first half.

The precision mechanics and heat dissipation business continues to be a powerful  growth engine, with full-year revenue expected to increase by more than 30%. Gross margin in this segment reached 23.1% in the first half and is expected to rise further in the second half.

The optics business saw a YoY decline in revenue, reflecting industry conditions and customer mix, but overall gross margin remained resilient. Gross margin of plastic lenses and G+P hybrid lenses improved by more than 5 percentage points YoY, driven by yield and process optimization. The Group is increasing the shipment mix of 6P-and-above high-end lenses and accelerating certification and onboarding with overseas customers.

The sensor and semiconductor business, benefiting from AI-driven upgrades in end devices, is expected to grow full-year revenue by 15%–20%, with gross margin improving steadily. Automotive acoustics, leveraging vertically integrated solutions spanning speakers, amplifiers and professional tuning, is expected to grow full-year revenue by 15%–20% despite a weaker auto market. Gross margin may decline by around 2 percentage points YoY, reflecting intensified industry competition and changes in product mix.

Among the global leaders in AI thermal management
Rapid advances in the AI industry have triggered a surge in thermal-management demand. In 1H 2026, AAC Technologies’ heat dissipation revenue surged approximately 400% YoY to RMB1.10 billion, highlighting its strong growth momentum.

According to Dan, AAC Technologies now ranks among the global leaders in consumer-electronics thermal management and among China’s top-three AI-server liquid-cooling providers by market size. In consumer electronics, shipments of the Group’s high-performance innovative vapor chambers (VCs) continued to ramp, and mass-production preparations for next-generation products are progressing smoothly.

In AI computing, the Group is pursuing a dual-market expansion strategy covering both domestic and overseas markets. Yuandi (Guangzhou) Digital Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the Group, has commenced scaled mass production and global batch deliveries of high-power centralized liquid-cooling CDUs, with monthly delivery capacity exceeding 600 units, firmly placing it among the industry’s leading players.

Proprietary WLG technology enters optical communications
Dan noted that co-packaged optics (CPO), a key technology direction for next-generation high-speed optical interconnects, imposes more stringent requirements on optical alignment — opening an important application scenario for WLG technology.

AAC Technologies’ proprietary, self-developed WLG wafer-level glass molding technology offers advantages in high precision, superior consistency and large-scale mass production. The Group is actively engaging in technical exchanges, factory audits and sample submissions with leading overseas optical communications companies, including top-tier players providing high-speed interconnect chips for AI and cloud infrastructure.

In AR optics, AAC Technologies has built a one-stop optical system design and simulation solution covering waveguides and light engines. Dan said the Group has become the industry’s first company to achieve volume delivery of full-color light engines serving top-tier customers. In single-layer surface relief grating (SRG) diffractive optical waveguides, it is also the first in the industry to achieve mass production using etching processes.

First-ever integration of acoustics and electromagnetic drives
To capture AI industry growth opportunities, AAC Technologies has combined its former acoustics and electromagnetic drives businesses — the first organizational integration of these two core segments since the Company’s listing. The combined segment generated revenue of RMB6.01 billion in the first half, up 14.2% YoY, with a gross profit margin of 28.6%.

During the reporting period, the segment secured key breakthroughs across several new business lines. Projects related to active cooling fans have successfully passed customer certification and are expected to become standard configurations for high-end models over time, with further expansion into servers, robotics and other markets.

Robotic motors and modules secured project design wins from several leading global customers, with certain projects already entering mass production. In addition, AAC Technologies is strategically expanding into the robot systems business, with relevant projects expected to enter mass production by the end of 2026.

“One of the Group’s core strengths is its technology platforms plus cross-scenario reuse,” Dan said. Going forward, the Group will further deepen the integration of the acoustics and electromagnetic drives segment, unlocking synergies across technologies, production capacity and customer resources. While solidifying its core position in consumer electronics, the Group will deliver comprehensive solutions into emerging tracks such as automotive, humanoid robotics and AI terminals, continuously unlocking product value-add and long-term growth potential.

Robotics business expected to reach RMB400–700 million in 2027
Regarding the development pace of the robotics industry, Dan noted that the ultimate form of embodied AI remains unsettled. Beyond humanoid robots, task-specific robots for professional scenarios, desktop AI interactive devices and other form factors are being explored in parallel, with product maturity and commercialization timelines varying significantly across use cases.

Leveraging its long-standing expertise in precision electromagnetic drives, the Group is building capability moats around universal core components for robots — including motors, rotary joints and gimbal modules. It has already established deep partnerships with several leading overseas robotics companies, spanning core-component supply and joint technology development, and can flexibly address the differentiated needs of different robot form factors.

Based on the current project pipeline, Dan said the Group’s robotics-related business is expected to reach RMB400–700 million in 2027. Looking ahead, as large AI models migrate to the edge and multi-form robot applications penetrate faster with accelerating commercialization, the segment is expected to see even stronger growth in the coming years.

AI new businesses poised to exceed RMB8 billion next year
Addressing market concerns over the impact of rising memory chip prices on the smartphone supply chain, Dan said that, despite industry pressure, AAC Technologies’ traditional smartphone businesses maintained a stable-to-improving gross margin, thanks to the Company’s solid core technology foundation and continuous improvements in internal operational efficiency.

Dan further noted that, based on first-half operating performance and the internal outlook for the second half, AAC Technologies has effectively withstood the pressure from declining smartphone shipments and managed the impact of this round of memory-chip price increases on the handset supply chain.

Looking at the Company’s medium- to long-term strategic roadmap, Dan revealed that the overall scale of the Company’s AI-related new businesses is expected to reach RMB8–9 billion by 2027, transforming these emerging segments into AAC Technologies’ core growth engine.

By business line, 2027 scale is expected as follows:
– Vapor chambers (VCs) and active cooling: around RMB5 billion
– AI devices and gimbal modules: around RMB1.5 billion
– CDU liquid cooling and cold plates: around RMB1 billion
– robotic core components: RMB400–700 million
– new automotive acoustics initiatives: around RMB500 million
– WLG optical communications: around RMB100 million in initial revenue

“The RMB8–9 billion scale is only a beginning,” Dan emphasized. AI-driven industry transformation is just getting started. The new businesses the Company is focused on — including edge AI hardware, data center liquid cooling, XR, robotics and intelligent cockpits — are expected to grow far faster than traditional businesses over the next three to five years, continuously unlocking growth momentum.

Source: Hong Kong Commercial Daily

Original article: https://www.hkcd.com.hk/content_app/2026-08/21/content_8770919.html

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