New Stock Preview | Increasing Revenue Without Profit Highlights Systemic Dilemma, Industry Leader Gori Li Faces a "Crossroads"

As the wave of intelligent manufacturing sweeps across various industries, smart manufacturing software solutions have become the core support for driving manufacturing transformation and building sustainable competitive advantages for enterprises.

This is because smart manufacturing software solutions deeply integrate artificial intelligence, big data, and automation technologies, enabling the comprehensive evolution of production processes toward automation, intelligence, and efficiency, and transforming the entire manufacturing process into digital and intelligent systems.

By aggregating and analyzing production data in real-time, intelligent manufacturing software systems can support smart decision-making and process optimization, significantly improving production efficiency, ensuring product consistency, and enhancing overall corporate competitiveness.

As the industry flourishes, leading companies have begun new journeys toward Hong Kong listings. According to Cailian Press, on February 15, Shanghai GoriLi Software Co., Ltd. (hereinafter: GoriLi) submitted a listing application to the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with Guotai Junan International and Minyin Capital serving as joint sponsors.

According to a report by Frost & Sullivan, GoriLi is the first Chinese company to achieve full coverage of software solutions across all segments of the broader semiconductor value chain. It provides end-to-end solutions from materials and processing to components, assembly, and downstream applications, covering all industries within the broad semiconductor sector. Meanwhile, GoriLi holds the top market share among domestic providers of smart manufacturing software solutions for the broad semiconductor industry.

However, looking at its financial performance, GoriLi has yet to escape the cycle of losses. From 2022 to 2024, its adjusted net losses were approximately 85.58 million, 126 million, and 102 million yuan, respectively. In the first four months of 2025, its adjusted net loss widened to 32.43 million yuan, meaning the company has accumulated nearly 3.5 billion RMB in losses over less than four years.

On one hand, its comprehensive coverage of the entire value chain and leading market share are notable highlights; on the other hand, persistent losses show no signs of improvement. Against this backdrop, what valuation should the secondary market assign to GoriLi? This is undoubtedly a key question worth exploring.

Post-Series D valuation of 3.5 billion RMB, with a strong lineup of state-owned shareholders

Since its founding in 2007, GoriLi has continuously focused on intelligent manufacturing solutions. Its development history clearly demonstrates how a domestic industrial software company, through nearly two decades of dedicated focus and technological accumulation, has gradually grown into a key force driving the intelligent upgrade of China’s high-end manufacturing. This success is largely attributed to GoriLi’s three-step development strategy: from specialization to diversification, from point solutions to comprehensive coverage, and tackling high-end challenges.

Initially, GoriLi centered on semiconductor manufacturing, successfully delivering some of China’s first front-end and packaging test manufacturing execution systems. In 2013, it expanded into the display panel industry, becoming an important participant in the localization process, laying a solid technical and industry foundation.

With capabilities accumulated, GoriLi began systematic expansion in 2016, extending into photovoltaic and printed circuit board sectors, and for the first time served as the general contractor for full-factory CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing) projects, marking a transition from single-point software to a comprehensive solution provider. During this period, the company also initiated international business deployment, gradually building a cross-industry, cross-region business system.

Since 2022, GoriLi has entered a phase of high-end breakthroughs and leadership. It advanced into the Micro LED frontier in 2022, achieving a full-factory CIM system for 8-inch semiconductor front-end production. In 2023, it completed localization of a 12-inch semiconductor front-end CIM system, conquering industry high ground and reaching a milestone. Subsequently, GoriLi continued to make breakthroughs in 12-inch semiconductor mass production CIM, high-end lithography process simulation, high-end PCB full-factory CIM, and fully automated Micro LED manufacturing CIM, also promoting integration projects like LOFA AI and equipment control, leading industry smart upgrades.

Currently, GoriLi can provide tailored full-stack intelligent manufacturing software solutions for customers in semiconductor, display panel, PCB, and photovoltaic industries. Its integrated platform covers the entire value chain—from data collection and process management to advanced big data analysis and AI applications. Relying on five interconnected solution platforms—the production operation platform, integrated automation platform, digital control platform, big data engine, and digital equipment platform—GoriLi has built a new generation of digital manufacturing landscape.

According to the prospectus, with over 17 years of industry experience, GoriLi has established long-term partnerships with advanced manufacturing companies such as SMIC and Tianma Microelectronics. Since 2022, the company has engaged with over 290 clients in the broad semiconductor industry, including about 160 semiconductor industry customers.

In terms of market position, GoriLi has steadily become the leading domestic provider. Data shows that in 2024, GoriLi generated approximately 249 million RMB in revenue, accounting for 11.7% of the domestic market share, ranking first among domestic smart manufacturing software providers for the broad semiconductor industry.

Behind GoriLi’s rise to industry leadership is strong support from various capital sources in the primary market. The prospectus reveals that GoriLi completed five rounds of financing before its IPO, and after completing Series D in October 2023, its post-investment valuation reached 3.5 billion RMB.

Notably, GoriLi’s shareholder structure features a clear “state-owned + industrial capital” characteristic: State Development Investment Corporation’s major project fund holds 6.96%; the National Manufacturing Transformation and Upgrading Fund, led by China Development Bank Capital, holds 5.65%; Shenzhen Qichang, under China Merchants Capital, holds 4.14%; Shenzhen Chenxin, under state capital venture funds, holds 4.14%; Shenzhen Investment Holdings, under state-owned assets, holds 2.07%; and SMIC and Tianjin State-owned Capital jointly invested in SMIC Haihe Fund, holding 1.62%.

This indicates that GoriLi benefits from strong strategic support from national-level capital and has deep ties with core industry players like SMIC, laying a solid foundation for its long-term development through capital and industry synergy.

“Revenue growth but profit stagnation”: systemic challenges

As a domestic leader in the broad semiconductor smart manufacturing software sector, GoriLi’s commercialization capabilities have strengthened in recent years, with steady revenue growth being the most direct evidence.

According to the prospectus, from 2022 to 2023, GoriLi’s revenue was approximately 110 million, 165 million, and 249 million RMB, with a compound annual growth rate exceeding 50%. In the first four months of 2025, revenue reached $81.05 million, a 4.23% year-over-year increase. Although growth has slowed, it remains upward.

This sustained revenue growth is mainly driven by the dual engines of CIM software solutions and digital control platforms within the smart manufacturing software business. From 2022 to 2024, as the company expanded into other segments of the broad semiconductor field, revenue from CIM solutions grew strongly—from 75.51 million, 137 million, to 195 million RMB. Meanwhile, revenue from the digital control platform fluctuated but generally trended upward, contributing to overall growth.

In the first four months of 2025, GoriLi’s overall revenue growth slowed, mainly due to a decline in core CIM software solution revenue, which fell about 11.68% to approximately 63.78 million RMB. However, the digital control platform performed well, with revenue soaring 263.5% to 15.605 million RMB, effectively offsetting the temporary weakness in CIM.

It’s important to note that all GoriLi solutions are delivered via customized projects, and revenue recognition may be affected by project phases. The short-term decline in CIM revenue may relate to delays in project acceptance, and future performance still requires ongoing observation. Revenue from big data engine and digital equipment platforms remains small, with limited market penetration so far.

Despite continuous revenue growth, GoriLi’s profitability remains in the red, exemplifying “growing revenue but not profit.” From 2022 to the first four months of 2025, adjusted net losses were approximately 85.58 million, 126 million, 102 million, and 32.43 million RMB. The main reasons are twofold: first, significant fluctuations in gross profit margin.

Data shows that from 2022 to the first four months of 2025, GoriLi’s gross margins were 16.9%, 3.4%, 13.2%, and 6.1%, exhibiting sharp ups and downs, indicating instability. This exposes the inherent weakness of its customized project-based business model—high-cost projects can heavily drag down overall profitability, with low product standardization, weak pricing power, and limited cost control. Additionally, provisions for loss contracts and inventory impairments further exacerbate gross margin volatility.

Second, high operating expenses severely erode profit margins. Data indicates that from 2022 to the first four months of 2025, operating expenses as a percentage of revenue remained high—97.65%, 91.48%, 93.11%, and 133.75%. R&D expenses are the largest component, accounting for 47.3%, 46.5%, 47.9%, and 70.8% of revenue in the same periods. This shows the company is still in a growth stage driven by intensive R&D, with resources heavily allocated to long-term technological capabilities, but this also puts continuous pressure on short-term profitability.

Moreover, industry-wide factors also contribute to ongoing losses. Chairman Sun Zhiyan has pointed out that the industry has entered a stock competition phase, with fierce price wars driven by product homogeneity, squeezing profit margins.

Price competition is not the only challenge; customer concentration risk is also significant. The prospectus shows that in 2022–2025, the top five customers contributed 62.4%, 54.2%, 46.7%, and 52.5% of revenue, indicating high dependence on a few key clients. This structure could lead to limited bargaining power, concentrated receivables and credit risks, and performance volatility.

Additionally, some industry analysts suggest that traditional CIM systems based on complex code stacks may be reshaped by AI-native “large model” intelligent manufacturing systems. If GoriLi cannot adapt quickly, its existing technological assets may face devaluation risks.

Overall, while GoriLi has become a leading domestic enterprise, it still faces systemic challenges. Its growth model—high R&D investment to achieve technological breakthroughs and market position—may struggle to generate a sustainable financial cycle amid project-based low-margin operations and brutal industry price wars. The company stands at a critical crossroads: whether it can rapidly improve product standardization and profitability during the domestic substitution window, transitioning from “capital-driven market expansion” to “self-sustaining growth,” will determine its ability to survive cycles and become a long-term industry leader.