Revenue and net profit hit record highs; Sanhua Intelligent Controls bets big on the new robotics track, with a market value loss of over 50 billion yuan this year.

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As a “hidden champion” in the global thermal management field, Sanghua Intelligent Control (002050.SZ; 02050.HK) has once again validated its market position with strong performance. The latest disclosed annual report for 2025 shows that last year, Sanghua Intelligent Control achieved record highs in both revenue and net profit.

Specifically, the company realized revenue of 31.012 billion yuan in the 2025 annual report, a year-on-year increase of 10.97%; the net profit attributable to shareholders was 4.063 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 31.10%, with profit growth significantly outpacing revenue growth. Notably, Wind data shows that Sanghua Intelligent Control’s net profit margin has reached 13.24%, the highest in nearly 16 years.

Regarding the reasons for performance growth, Sanghua Intelligent Control mentioned in its previous earnings forecast that during the reporting period, the company continued to consolidate its leading position in the refrigeration and air conditioning electrical components industry, fully seizing opportunities from market demand growth, coupled with the deep technological accumulation and advantages of large-scale production of core products, driving sustained growth in this business.

“At the same time, relying on its leading market layout in the global thermal management field for new energy vehicles, the company has continuously expanded high-quality orders through the demonstration effect of benchmark customers, further solidifying the performance growth momentum of the automotive components business. The synergy of these two business segments provides solid support for the company’s annual performance growth,” Sanghua Intelligent Control stated.

According to the regular report, Sanghua Intelligent Control focuses on the research and application of heat pump technology and thermal management systems, aiming to develop environmental thermal management solutions that achieve efficient heat exchange and intelligent temperature control. Its business spans two major sectors: refrigeration and air conditioning electrical components and automotive components, and based on long-term technological accumulation and R&D innovation, it is expanding into emerging fields such as bionic robot electromechanical actuators.

By product classification, the refrigeration and air conditioning electrical components business is the “pillar” of Sanghua Intelligent Control’s performance, with operating revenue of 18.585 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.22%; while the “second-in-command” automotive components business had operating revenue of 12.427 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.14%, accounting for about 40% of total revenue. Although there is a revenue gap, the gross profit margins of both are not significantly different, at 28.77% and 28.79%, respectively.

From a regional perspective, domestic sales revenue reached 17.688 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.51%, and the revenue share has increased. However, foreign sales revenue also grew by 6.58% year-on-year to 13.323 billion yuan, with a gross profit margin of 31.19%, higher than the domestic 26.96%.

It is worth noting that Sanghua Intelligent Control’s cash and cash equivalents increased from 5.249 billion yuan at the beginning of 2025 to 14.912 billion yuan at the end of 2025, with the proportion of total assets rising from 14.44% to 30.18%. The company stated that this was mainly due to successfully completing its Hong Kong stock issuance and raising funds.

On June 23 last year, Sanghua Intelligent Control successfully listed on the Hong Kong stock market. At that time, Sanghua Intelligent Control mentioned in its allocation results announcement that the total amount raised was 9.336 billion Hong Kong dollars. Of this, about 10% of the raised funds will be used for the R&D of bionic robots and related fields. This is also the strategic emerging business mentioned in Sanghua Intelligent Control’s regular reports since last year.

According to public information, Sanghua Intelligent Control has been a tier-one supplier to Tesla since 2017, mainly providing core components for thermal management systems for Tesla models such as Model 3, Model X, and Model S. After 2020, Sanghua Intelligent Control further expanded its cooperation scope to provide integrated components for thermal management of new energy vehicles to Tesla.

Elon Musk has publicly stated that about “80% of Tesla’s long-term value” will come from the humanoid robot Optimus. One of the unlocking conditions for the trillion-dollar equity incentive plan proposed by Tesla’s board to Musk is to deliver 1 million humanoid robots within 10 years.

To seize new business opportunities in the bionic robot industry, Sanghua Intelligent Control plans to invest in the research and development of electromechanical actuators and other key components of bionic robots, recruiting about 200 R&D talents by 2028.

In this year’s business plan, Sanghua Intelligent Control has focused significantly on the bionic robot business— the company will concentrate on electromechanical actuators, continue to cooperate with customers on key product R&D, trials, iterations, and sample deliveries, and increase development efforts on key components of electromechanical actuators. At the same time, it will actively expand overseas production of electromechanical actuators and continuously expand its R&D team to solidify its first-mover advantage in the emerging market for bionic robot electromechanical actuators.

Regardless of whether the robot business can bring performance growth to Sanghua Intelligent Control in the short term, the capital market has already reacted in advance.

In the hot year of 2025 for the robot concept, Sanghua Intelligent Control’s stock price has been impressive. Wind data shows that Sanghua Intelligent Control’s A-shares rose from around 20 yuan/share at the beginning of 2025 to 55.19 yuan/share by December 31, with an annual increase of 137.27%. The upward trend continued into early 2026, reaching a historical high of 60.77 yuan/share on January 19 before oscillating downwards, with the stock price having declined over 20% within the year, resulting in a total market value evaporation of over 50 billion yuan; while the Hong Kong stock has increased by 28.33% since its listing.

It is noteworthy that in the year when stock prices surged, some shareholders of Sanghua Intelligent Control were reducing their holdings. Among the top ten shareholders in the A-shares, the concerted party of the actual controller Zhang Yabo—Zhejiang Sanghua Green Energy Industrial Group Co., Ltd. reduced its holdings by 78.3828 million shares in 2025.