Cambricon, China's flagship AI-chip maker, posted a 108% surge in first-half revenue to 6 billion yuan (about US$890 million), with profits jumping 122.6% — the clearest commercial marker yet that Beijing's massive drive to substitute homegrown silicon for restricted US chips is working.
The state-backed company — often called China's answer to Nvidia — has ridden a wave of domestic demand as Chinese AI labs and cloud providers, cut off from advanced Nvidia processors by US export controls, turn to local accelerators. Analysts see the results as evidence that China's chip-localization strategy is translating into real revenue, not just policy aspiration.
The surge builds on a blockbuster 2025: Cambricon was among the best-performing stocks on the Chinese market last year, and first-quarter 2026 sales more than doubled. The company's record half-year profit, reported alongside the revenue figure, underscores how quickly the domestic AI chip market has scaled as Beijing pours state funding into semiconductor self-sufficiency.
The gains come as the US tightens controls on AI hardware exports and Chinese rivals — including Huawei's Ascend line and newer entrants — race to capture a share of a market that analysts expect to grow for years. For Cambricon, the challenge is keeping up momentum: capacity, software ecosystem and the durability of demand all remain open questions.
