Over 150 semiconductor companies report earnings, with revenue "generally increasing" but profits "mixed," and the price hike trend adding variables for 2026?

This article is from Times Finance. Authors: Pang Yu and Zhang Zhao.

Image source: TuChong

The annual report season begins, coupled with the spread of a price increase wave, drawing market attention back to the semiconductor sector.

According to Wind data compiled by Times Finance, as of February 28, 2026, out of 173 listed companies in the Shenwan semiconductor industry, 152 have disclosed their 2025 performance forecasts, quick reports, or annual reports.

From the disclosures, the semiconductor sector is currently in a complex stage of high cost pressures intertwined with structural recovery. Overall industry revenue is rebounding, with over 80% of companies reporting positive revenue growth, but profit performance remains mixed.

Specifically, within the sector, company profits are “mixed.” Among them, 78 companies (including 64 with expected increases, 13 turned losses into profits, and 1 continued profit) reported positive results; the remaining 74 companies (including 50 with expected losses and 24 with expected reductions) face pressure on net profits attributable to parent company shareholders.

On one hand, driven by explosive demand for AI computing power and accelerated domestic substitution, some companies have seized the cycle and seen their net profits “skyrocket.” Zhenlei Technology (688270.SH) leads the sector with nearly six times the profit increase, earning the title of “Forecast King.” Buwei Storage (688525.SH), Sitoway-W (688213.SH), and others also performed well.

On the other hand, due to price wars in some niche segments, capacity ramp-up depreciation, asset impairments, and restrictions on overseas control, some companies still struggle with losses or declining profits. Companies like Wentai Technology (600745.SH) and Shanghai Silicon Industry (688126.SH) have experienced rare large losses.

Performance “Mixed”

Data source: Wind. Chart: Times Finance

Among companies with forecasted increases, seven companies—Zhenlei Technology, Buwei Storage, Zhongke Laxun (688332.SH), Sitoway-W, Shengong Co. (688233.SH), Weice Technology (688372.SH), and Zhongwei Semiconductor (688380.SH)—delivered outstanding results, with net profit growth exceeding 100%.

Zhenlei Technology is currently the “Forecast King.” Its quick report states that in 2025, its net profit reached 133 million yuan, a 582% increase year-over-year. The growth is attributed to the recovery of downstream industries, sustained customer demand, and the progress of order fulfillment and mass delivery across core business segments, driving continuous revenue growth.

In terms of business structure, Zhenlei’s products and technologies are mainly applied in data chains, electronic countermeasures, phased array communications, and other specialized fields, as well as civilian sectors like satellite internet. Affected by the domestic specialized industry cycle, downstream customer demand has increased, and the company’s market expansion in satellite communications is accelerating.

Following closely is Buwei Storage, with a net profit surge of 438% to 866 million yuan in 2025. Buwei’s rebound reflects the cyclical recovery of the entire storage industry. After storage prices declined quarter by quarter from Q3 2024 and bottomed out in Q1 2025, the industry turned around in Q2 driven by strong demand from AI servers and data centers. Stabilizing product prices and rapid growth in emerging AI applications on the edge have become key drivers of performance improvement.

Similarly, Damingli, a major player in the storage industry, benefited from this trend. Despite losing over 27 million yuan in the first three quarters of 2025, it turned around in Q4 as storage prices entered an upward channel, leading to gross profit growth. For the full year, it achieved a net profit of 688 million yuan, up 96.35% year-over-year.

However, in stark contrast to the high-flying forecast companies, another group of semiconductor firms are deep in losses, facing severe challenges from rising costs and asset impairments.

Data source: Wind. Chart: Times Finance

Among 50 companies with disclosed performance forecasts or quick reports that are losing money, 8 companies are expected to lose more than 500 million yuan.

Wentai Technology expects a net loss of 9 to 13.5 billion yuan in 2025, mainly due to restrictions on overseas assets. In Q4 2025, its subsidiary Amphenol Semiconductor received orders from the Dutch government and court rulings, limiting the company’s control over Amphenol. The company anticipates recognizing significant investment losses and asset impairments.

Shanghai Silicon Industry, a leading domestic silicon wafer manufacturer, reported a loss of 1.476 billion yuan in 2025. The company explained that despite the global semiconductor market’s high growth driven by AI applications, demand in consumer electronics and industrial electronics remains weak. Additionally, capacity expansion projects are still ramping up, and previous profits have not been fully realized, while high R&D costs also weigh on short-term profitability.

Other companies like Lihui Micro (688589.SH) and Geke Micro (688728.SH) also forecast significant declines, with Lihui Micro expecting a profit drop of nearly 80%, mainly due to reduced bidding in the smart grid market and increased R&D in non-grid IoT sectors, leading to sharp profit declines.

Data source: Wind. Chart: Times Finance

“Price Increase Wave” Spreads

Behind the performance divergence, a global wave of semiconductor industry chain price hikes is accelerating at the start of 2026.

Following initial price increases in AI computing chips and storage chips, the effect has further propagated to semiconductor manufacturing, packaging and testing, as well as upstream key materials and core components.

On February 25, domestic power semiconductor leader Xinjieneng (605111.SH) issued a price increase notice, citing sharp rises in upstream raw materials and precious metals globally, which have caused continuous increases in wafer foundry and packaging costs. The company can no longer bear the rising costs alone. To ensure sustainable operations, it will raise prices for MOSFET products by at least 10%, effective from March 1, 2026.

Since the beginning of the year, more than ten domestic semiconductor companies—including SMIC (688980.SH), Goke Micro (300672.SZ), Huaren Micro (688396.SH), Meixin Sheng (688458.SH), Yingjixin (688209.SH), and Biyi Micro (688045.SH)—have announced product price increases ranging from 10% to 80%, covering MCUs, Nor flash, integrated KGD storage, power devices, and more.

A senior industry insider told Times Finance that rising costs, exploding AI demand, and insufficient capacity supply are the core reasons behind this round of price hikes across the semiconductor supply chain. “Especially for mature small- and medium-power discrete devices like general MOSFETs and diodes, metal raw materials account for a high proportion of packaging costs—often 60-70% or more.”

It is understood that core metals such as gold, silver, copper, aluminum, and palladium have seen significant price increases since 2025, pushing up production costs. CITIC Securities research reports that in 2025, futures prices for gold, silver, and copper increased by over 50%, 150%, and 50%, respectively. According to Business Society data, as of January 29, copper prices had surpassed 101,600 yuan/ton, up 35.08% year-over-year.

Looking at 2025 performance, this price increase is also a passive response by some semiconductor manufacturers facing inverted costs and squeezed profit margins.

For example, Goke Micro’s 2025 forecast explicitly states that because the company’s main products have not been able to raise prices, rising raw material costs have led to lower gross margins, putting pressure on annual performance.

Blue Arrow Electronics (301348.SZ), which mainly produces discrete devices, also admitted in its forecast that although capacity and shipments increased compared to last year, slow recovery in demand from traditional consumer electronics and industrial sectors, coupled with intensified market competition, has put significant pressure on product prices. Meanwhile, rising raw material costs further increased cost pressures. This “dual squeeze” has caused its gross profit margin to decline year-over-year.

For companies with bargaining power, full capacity, or in an upcycle, price increases are an effective way to restore gross margins. A staff member from Huaren Micro’s securities department told Times Finance that the company has already raised prices for its entire series of microelectronics products since February 1, with a minimum increase of 10%. “A 10% price increase can actually cover and even exceed the impact of rising costs, improving our gross profit margin. Currently, demand remains strong, and capacity is fully utilized. We will adjust prices based on raw material price trends, and further price moves are not ruled out.”

According to multiple industry reports and expert opinions, this industry chain price hike is not a short-term phenomenon.

On February 28, the National Development and Reform Commission’s Price Monitoring Center stated that since September 2025, driven by explosive demand and capacity shortages, the global memory market has widened its gap, with storage chip prices continuing to rise. Over the past month, the increase has accelerated, and attention should be paid to the impact on downstream prices. Data shows that as of January this year, the prices of the two main storage chip products—DRAM and NAND flash—reached their highest levels since 2016.

For example, the contract price of DDR4 8Gb (1G8) in January averaged $11.50, up about 24% from the previous month and approximately 83% since September 2025; NAND flash (128Gb 16G8 MLC) averaged $9.50, up about 65% from last month and nearly 1.5 times since September 2025.

The Price Monitoring Center also noted that storage chips are currently in an upward cycle. Driven by sustained growth in AI server computing power, global demand for storage chips remains tight, and prices are expected to continue rising. This price increase is gradually passing through to consumer electronics products.

Looking ahead, Donghai Securities’ research suggests that AI infrastructure construction is still in a large-scale investment phase, with overseas major CSP (chip-scale packaging) manufacturers increasing capital expenditure year-over-year, and demand for computing power expected to explode. The global semiconductor industry’s sales in 2025 are projected to hit a record high, with the price hike wave spreading from storage chips to power, analog, MCU, and other non-storage fields. Overall, the industry is currently in a stage of structural high growth.