Science and Technology Innovation Growth Tier: 6 Companies Turn Profitable; Cambricon Leads "Delisting"

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Reprinted from China Business Journal

Reporter Sun Ruxiang, Xia Xin Beijing Report

On the evening of March 12, 2026, Cambrian disclosed its 2025 annual report, showing the company turned a profit, with a net profit attributable to shareholders of 2.059 billion yuan and a non-recurring net profit of 1.77 billion yuan.

On the same day, Cambrian announced that its stock will remove the special marker U on March 16, 2026. The stock abbreviation will change from “Cambrian-U” to “Cambrian.” As a result, Cambrian becomes the first SciTech Innovation Board company to remove the “U” and exit the Science and Technology Innovation Growth Tier.

Besides Cambrian, according to the 2025 performance quick report/forecast, five companies—BeiGene, OBI Zhongguang, NuoCheng Jianhua, Beixin Life, and Jingjin Electric—are also expected to gradually remove the “U” from their tiers.

Entering the harvest phase, Cambrian leads the “tier removal”

Cambrian’s announcement titled “First Profitable Year and Removal of U from Stock Abbreviation” states that the company’s net profit attributable to shareholders in 2025 was 2.059 billion yuan, with a non-recurring net profit of 1.77 billion yuan. This meets the criteria of “a company that was not profitable at listing but achieved its first profit,” and its A-shares will remove the “U” marker on March 16, 2026. The stock code 688256 remains unchanged.

Cambrian also exemplifies the long-term cultivation of “hard tech” enterprises in the capital market beginning to bear fruit.

As a benchmark for domestic AI chips, Cambrian invested over 5.6 billion yuan in R&D from 2020 to 2024, iterating multiple chip products and completing key transformations within five years of listing. With the explosive growth in AI computing power demand in 2025, the company’s revenue structure shifted significantly—from mainly intelligent computing clusters at the start to commercial cloud chip product lines, with annual net profit surpassing 2 billion yuan for the first time, entering a stage of “self-sustaining growth.”

Besides Cambrian, according to disclosed 2025 performance reports/forecasts, BeiGene, OBI Zhongguang, NuoCheng Jianhua, Beixin Life, and Jingjin Electric are also expected to turn profitable, with their “U” markers being gradually removed after the official annual reports are released.

It is noteworthy that these six companies cover strategic emerging fields such as AI, biomedicine, new energy, and high-end medical devices, representing the forefront of China’s tech industry breakthroughs. These companies initially invested heavily in R&D, accumulated core technologies, and relied on major national projects and key research initiatives to overcome critical core technologies, ultimately achieving product commercialization and volume growth.

For example, BeiGene spent over ten years bringing its core product, Brukinsa (zanubrutinib), from laboratory research to the global market, establishing a leading position in the BTK inhibitor field. In 2025, the company achieved revenue of 38.205 billion yuan, up 40.4% year-on-year; net profit was 1.422 billion yuan, successfully turning a profit.

The other four companies are also at “operational turning points.” Beixin Life, a cardiovascular diagnostic device company newly registered after the establishment of the SciTech Growth Tier, removed the “U” marker in its first year of listing; NuoCheng Jianhua, in the blood tumor field, achieved profitability through drug sales and business expansion; OBI Zhongguang, a leader in 3D vision, benefited from the accelerated penetration of 3D perception technology in embodied intelligence applications, with business scale continuously rising; Jingjin Electric, supporting new energy vehicles, focused on core patented products, with new products launched and volume increasing.

Dynamic adjustments in the SciTech Growth Tier balance growth and regulation

In June 2025, the SciTech Innovation Board’s “1+6” reform was launched, establishing the SciTech Growth Tier. Companies that were not profitable at listing are included from the start; all 32 existing unprofitable companies that had not yet turned profitable were also incorporated into this tier.

In July 2025, the Shanghai Stock Exchange issued self-regulation guidelines for the SciTech Growth Tier, clarifying that companies meeting certain conditions—such as two consecutive years of positive net profit with a total profit of at least 50 million yuan, or a positive net profit in the most recent year with revenue of at least 1 billion yuan—may be removed from the tier. Companies listed before the guidelines and that have not yet turned profitable, but do so after listing, will also be removed.

“The dynamic adjustment of the SciTech Growth Tier aims to institutionalize and make predictable the dual goals of supporting innovation and risk identification,” said Ye Xiaojie, Director of the Finance Department at Shanghai National Accounting Institute, to China Business Journal.

On one hand, through tier entry and exit rules, unprofitable tech companies are separated into a distinct layer, marked with “U,” and risk disclosures are strengthened, helping investors understand the high R&D and uncertainty during growth stages, protecting small and medium investors’ rights.

On the other hand, the mechanism turns growth potential and regulation into a “guiding stick”: companies that meet standards and are removed from the tier are recognized for their technological transformation and commercialization capabilities, opening new space for future financing and valuation; those that do not meet standards remain in the tier, subject to stricter disclosure and investor suitability constraints, creating a healthy cycle of “up and down, survival of the fittest.”

“From a macro perspective, this dynamic adjustment enhances the SciTech Innovation Board’s role as a ‘test field’ and ‘demonstration zone,’ increasing institutional inclusiveness while maintaining risk control, guiding capital more precisely toward truly innovative and promising ‘hard tech’ fields, and providing a replicable and scalable institutional model for cultivating new productive forces,” Ye emphasized.

As of March 12, 2026, the SciTech Growth Tier includes 39 companies, with 32 existing and 7 newly listed.

Overall, the development trend of companies in the tier is positive. According to the 2025 performance quick report/forecast, these 39 companies are expected to see a 37% year-on-year increase in revenue and a significant 57% reduction in net losses.

The positive trend of “increasing revenue and reducing losses” further validates the commercialization prospects of core technologies and operational efficiency improvements. The market has responded positively: the total market value of these 39 companies has reached 2 trillion yuan, reflecting investors’ strong confidence in the long-term value of “hard tech.”

Since the market opened, the SciTech Innovation Board has supported 61 unprofitable companies at listing, with 22 successfully removing the “U” after listing. It is expected that after the 2025 annual report disclosures, the number of companies removing the “U” will reach 28, nearly half. These 28 companies took an average of about 2.2 years from listing to “graduation,” and in 2025, they are projected to achieve revenue of 175.816 billion yuan and net profit of 9.487 billion yuan, forming an important microfoundation for advancing new productive forces.