AAC TECH CFO Outlines AI Expansion Strategy, Projects Revenue Peak by 2026

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On March 19, AAC Technologies (02018) held its 2025 annual results presentation in Singapore, delivering a strong annual report. The financial results revealed that AAC Technologies achieved revenue of RMB 31.82 billion in 2025, surpassing the RMB 30 billion mark for the first time in its history, representing a year-on-year increase of 16.4%. Net profit reached RMB 2.51 billion, a significant surge of 39.8% compared to the previous year. The company has consistently set new records in revenue scale in recent years, with net profit achieving high double-digit growth, highlighting the effectiveness of its strategic transformation. "Pioneering Innovation" and "AI Empowerment" have become core themes in AAC's recent development, underpinned by a profound shift from a component supplier to a "builder of AI perception infrastructure."

In an interview during the results presentation, CFO Guo Dan emphasized that strategic new businesses, notably in optics and automotive, combined with expansions into AI growth areas such as thermal management, robotics, and XR, have established the core engines for the company's medium to long-term sustainable growth, with this potential set to be further unleashed in 2026. Looking ahead to 2026, Guo Dan expressed strong confidence. Despite ongoing industry volatility, the group will leverage its diversified business engines to achieve steady revenue growth for the full year, with the growth rate expected to be no lower than the 2025 level. Simultaneously, the gross profit margin is projected to increase steadily from the 22.1% base seen in 2025.

**On the Optics Business: Plastic Lens Gross Margin to Rise to 35%, Proprietary WLG Technology Reaches Key Milestone** As a core strategic growth driver, AAC's optics business (ChenRui Optics) has achieved leapfrog development since its establishment in 2019. Data shows that the optics business revenue climbed to RMB 5.73 billion in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate exceeding 32% over six years, making it a key pillar of the group's growth. Guo Dan stated that the optics business will achieve steady growth in 2026, with a concurrent improvement in gross margin. In 2025, the company continued to optimize its product mix towards mid-to-high-end lenses; the shipment proportion of 6P and higher specification lenses exceeded 18%, and shipments of 7-piece lenses reached 15 million units. Building on this, the gross margin for plastic lenses is expected to increase from 30% in 2025 to 35% in 2026, reaching an industry-leading level. Notably, AAC's globally unique WLG glass lens technology achieved a historic breakthrough, reaching a key milestone that not only broadens application boundaries but also holds the potential to reshape the market landscape currently dominated by plastic lenses. Guo Dan indicated, "In the future, whether in smartphones, automotive, or new forms of smart terminals, we expect to see more robust incremental contributions that will inject long-term momentum into business growth."

**On the Automotive Business: "Second Growth Engine" Solidifies, 2026 Revenue Expected to Grow 15%-20%** Through the acquisition of PSS, AAC Technologies rapidly established a core platform in the smart automotive field, successfully cultivating a "second growth engine" for the company. Guo Dan revealed that after completing the PSS acquisition in 2024 and acquiring ChuGuang and PSG in 2025, the company has fully upgraded to a system-level solution provider in the automotive sector, expanding its business scope from smartphones to the entire automotive domain. In 2025, the company's automotive acoustics business revenue reached RMB 4.12 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16.1%, positioning it among the global top-tier automotive audio system suppliers, second only to Harman and Bose. Regarding the 2026 outlook for the automotive acoustics business, Guo Dan stated that the business is expected to maintain high double-digit growth of 15%-20%, with gross margins remaining stable. The company's automotive business has now achieved comprehensive customer expansion overseas, domestically, and across Asia, with this multi-regional layout providing steady and certain support for revenue and profit growth.

**On AI Growth Businesses: Thermal Management Business Potential Reaching Tens of Billions, XR and Robotics Open New Frontiers** If optics and automotive are the company's "core growth engines," then businesses like thermal management, robotics, and XR waveguides represent AAC's high-potential "strategic reserves" for the future. Guo Dan believes that the company's past revenue primarily relied on businesses like traditional mobile acoustics and haptics. However, after years of strategic transformation and industry technological shifts, AI has become the core foundation driving sustained growth across multiple product lines. "For example, why is the thermal management business growing so rapidly? It's primarily driven by AI demand, including our layouts in robotics and AR glasses, which also stem from AI requirements," Guo Dan explained. In 2025, the company's thermal management business revenue grew fourfold year-on-year to RMB 1.67 billion, solidifying its position as a leading global supplier in consumer electronics thermal management. "In the future, as AI continues to develop, related applications will extend from smartphones to more categories like laptops and tablets, achieving broader scenario coverage and providing strong momentum for our growth." More strategically, through the acquisition of YuanDi Technology, AAC officially entered the fields of data center liquid cooling, AI server thermal management, and high-end thermal solutions, extending its reach from "device-level thermal management" to "AI infrastructure thermal management," forming a synergistic pattern across both "device + infrastructure" tracks. Guo Dan clearly stated, "Leveraging the vast market opportunities from multiple sectors, our thermal management business has the potential to reach a scale of tens of billions of RMB within the coming years, becoming a highly promising and important growth engine for the group."

In the XR waveguide field, through the acquisition of Dispelix, a globally leading AR diffractive waveguide company, AAC has become one of the few manufacturers with vertically integrated capabilities in waveguide design and manufacturing. It can provide one-stop full display module solutions, including waveguides, light engines, push/pull lenses, eye-tracking, and electrochromic components, and is expected to become the world's first supplier to mass-produce SRG full-color waveguides for leading customers by 2026. Guo Dan revealed, "The value per device for the optics business can reach $100–200 USD. Related layouts are expected to see clear mass production and shipment opportunities within the next two to three years, continuously creating significant value in terms of revenue, profit, and long-term market increments."

Regarding the robotics field, Guo Dan pointed out that the market definition, application scenarios, and product forms within the industry are not yet fully defined and remain in a diverse exploration and development phase. AAC Technologies has deep expertise and has completed extensive layouts across multiple core areas such as acoustics, motors, optics, structural components, and electric motors, laying a solid foundation to capture growth opportunities as the industry matures. "For instance, our dexterous hand-related products for humanoid robots are already being shipped in volume, with revenue exceeding RMB 100 million last year. Additionally, we are developing core component motors for a first-generation AI hardware device with a customer. Overall, the company has established deep cooperation with leading domestic and international customers, and we believe we will be an important player in the future."

**Strategic Review: Technology Reuse + Ecosystem Building, Anchoring Long-Term Growth** Reviewing AAC's three-decade development trajectory, the core formula for its sustained growth has always been rooted in the dual logic of reusing its fundamental technology platform and building ecosystem synergies. Leveraging its robust, long-accumulated technological foundation in micro-acoustics, precision optics, electromagnetic actuation, sensors, and semiconductors, the company has successfully transitioned from its mainstay consumer electronics markets like mobile phones to emerging fields such as AI terminals, robotics, XR, smart vehicles, and data center infrastructure, allowing its core technological capabilities to be efficiently transferred and amplified across diverse scenarios. This development model—"unchanging underlying technology, iterating application scenarios"—ensures stability and success in business transformation while rapidly addressing capability gaps through ecosystem integration (e.g., acquisitions like Dongyang Precision, PSS, ChuGuang, YuanDi Technology), forming a virtuous cycle of "technology-product-scenario-customer." The key path to realizing this cycle is clearly outlined in Guo Dan's outlook: Facing 2026 and beyond, AAC Technologies will anchor its position as a "builder of AI perception infrastructure," deepen multi-business collaboration and full-scenario coverage, accelerate its journey into the "AI blue ocean," deepen its global layout, and drive the company to ride the momentum and scale new heights.

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