China’s semiconductor firms post hefty 2025 profits amid AI boom, tech self-reliance drive

Enterprises across China’s semiconductor industry recorded hefty profit growth last year, according to their unaudited financial results, driven by the country’s artificial intelligence infrastructure buildout and Beijing’s push for tech self-reliance.Graphics processing unit (GPU) designer Cambricon Technologies on Friday reported a net profit of 2.2 billion yuan (US$316 million) in 2025, its first profitable year, on the back of “the continuous rise in computing power demand within the AI industry”, according to its Shanghai Stock Exchange filing.Other GPU designers, also viewed as alternative AI chip suppliers to Nvidia, managed to narrow their losses in 2025.Moore Threads Technology, which listed in Shanghai last month, reported that its losses narrowed by up to 41 per cent to 1 billion yuan, while revenue rose as much as 247 per cent on the back of demand for its flagship GPU, the MTT S5000. The Beijing-based company claimed that its AI chip had “reached market-leading levels in terms of performance”.MetaX Integrated Circuits, which started trading in Shanghai in December, narrowed its loss by up to 54 per cent to 798 million yuan in 2025. The GPU developer partly attributed its progress to creating “a software ecosystem that is both compatible with mainstream ecosystems and independently controlled”.“Benefiting from the AI boom, domestic A-share companies in related sectors are projected to achieve substantial growth in full-year 2025 performance”, a Donghai Securities research note said.