"Paper Tape Leader" acquires the National Defense University system's hard technology: Why Jemei Technology's big gamble struggles to impress the market

Source: Titanium Media

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On the evening of March 16, Jiemai Technology (002859.SZ) disclosed its acquisition proposal, intending to acquire 100% equity of Aifusi Technology from five counterparties: Zhou Lin, Yuan Zhi Xing Huo, Ding Jie, Tao Shang, and Chen Yongfu, by issuing shares. It also plans to raise supporting funds by issuing shares to no more than 35 specific investors, with the stock resuming trading today.

However, the capital market reacted lukewarmly—Jiemai Technology opened high but closed low, ultimately gaining only 1.08%. Against the backdrop of pressure on its main business profitability and a continuously rising debt-to-asset ratio, whether this “electronic materials company” can handle “high-end equipment” has become the biggest concern for the market.

Aifusi Technology’s core business is ion beam polishing machines—cutting-edge equipment used for the ultra-precision processing of optical components, which has a very high technical threshold, with clients highly concentrated in research institutions and military units, long order cycles, and significant volatility. This contrasts with Jiemai Technology’s past focus on a “large-scale manufacturing, fast turnover, strong cycle” consumables business, indicating two different business logics.

The limited size of the target, unclear acquisition premium, and high integration difficulty are the reasons for the existing divergences.

Cross-industry ultra-precision optical processing equipment, each seeking valuation arbitrage

The transaction proposal shows that the company intends to acquire all shares from the five shareholders of Aifusi by issuing shares and plans to issue shares to no more than 35 specific investors to raise supporting funds. The issuance price for the share purchase is set at 26.68 yuan/share, not lower than 80% of the average trading price of the company’s stock over the 120 trading days prior to the pricing benchmark date.

For both parties, this is a good deal: over the past 120 trading days, Jiemai Technology’s stock has risen more than 40%, with a 49.67% increase within 2026. Aifusi benefits from a “friendly price” low-cost issuance, securing an exit path, while Jiemai Technology achieves “buying growth” through valuation to relieve debt pressure.

Aifusi’s main products

Aifusi is a small-scale, high-growth “hard technology” target, projecting a net profit margin over 30% by 2025. The announcement states that Aifusi Technology is a leading domestic R&D and manufacturing enterprise for ultra-precision optical processing equipment, with its core product, the ion beam polishing machine, recognized and awarded as the first major technological equipment in Hunan Province. It possesses a provincial-level enterprise technology center and multiple national patents and software copyrights. After the transaction, Jiemai Technology’s business will expand from electronic packaging consumables to ultra-precision processing equipment, adding ultra-precision processing equipment business.

Aifusi’s research strength is related to its background at the National University of Defense Technology. Zhou Lin, the chairman and general manager of Aifusi, is a graduate of the National University of Defense Technology at both master’s and doctoral levels. After graduation, he remained at the university as a lecturer and associate researcher and has also served as a visiting scholar at Brookhaven National Laboratory in the United States.

Many core team members also have similar academic backgrounds, with a profound overall technical foundation, claiming to have 20 years of experience in the field of aspheric ultra-precision polishing, achieving “technological standards at the international advanced level.”

According to Zhou Lin’s disclosure in February 2026, Aifusi’s ion beam polishing machine holds about 70% market share in the domestic market, serving clients including Fuzhou Crystal Technology, Maolai Optics, and Wavelength Optoelectronics, as well as research institutions like the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Science and Technology of China. Financial data shows that Aifusi’s revenue in 2024 is projected to be 80.51 million yuan, with a net profit of 45.32 million yuan, indicating a rapid growth trend. As of the end of 2025, the company’s total assets will reach 196.65 million yuan, with net assets of 117.48 million yuan.

Growth ceiling and cyclical pains

Jiemai Technology is the absolute leader in the domestic paper carrier tape industry, with a market share exceeding 50%. Its core competitive advantage lies in the vertical integration of the industry chain: the company has broken through the technological monopoly of Japanese enterprises, achieving self-production of electronic special base paper, with a self-supply rate as high as 95%, thereby controlling costs and quality. At the same time, the company has horizontally expanded its product line, covering adhesive tapes, plastic carrier tapes, and release films, becoming a “comprehensive solution provider” in the electronic component packaging field.

However, the issues are equally evident; a very high market share means that the internal growth space has basically reached its ceiling. The market size for paper carrier tapes is relatively stable, and the company’s growth is highly dependent on the prosperity of the downstream electronic component industry, lacking the ability to create demand actively. Moreover, the product structure still leans towards consumables, with lower technological barriers and added value compared to high-end equipment.

Currently, the industry overall is maturing, with intensified price competition and pressure on gross margins. The relatively simple product structure and high customer concentration have led Jiemai Technology to display characteristics of “increased revenue without increased profit” and high volatility, especially in profitability levels:

• The sales gross margin dropped from 42.94% in Q2 2021 to 25.25% in Q4 2022, with a fluctuation of over 70%;
• The sales net margin fell sharply from 23.90% in Q2 2021 to 5.21% in Q4 2022, with a fluctuation of over 350%;
• The net profit attributable to shareholders for Q3 2025 was 176 million yuan, a slight year-on-year decrease of 0.70%, but the net profit for Q1 and Q2 fell by 36.73% and 18.78% year-on-year, respectively.

At the same time, the debt-to-asset ratio has continued to rise, with ratios of 53.38%, 55.15%, and 56.59% for Q1, Q2, and Q3 of 2025, respectively. The total liabilities amount to approximately 3.975 billion yuan, with short-term borrowings of 861 million yuan creating significant repayment pressure. Additionally, the large volume of accounts receivable, approximately three times the net profit attributable to shareholders for that year, with Q3 accounts receivable at 645 million yuan, accounting for 114.4% of quarterly revenue.

Amid maintaining a high dividend frequency, facing profitability pressure, and rising debt, the company’s balancing pressures are continuously increasing. If it cannot open up new high-growth businesses in the coming years and lacks the potential for explosive growth, Jiemai Technology will undoubtedly face the risk of a “Davis double whammy,” explaining why it is eager to break into new fields such as release films and optical films.

From consumables to equipment, what exactly is the shortfall being filled?

The above has mentioned that the logic behind the company’s cross-industry acquisition of Aifusi mainly focuses on three points: seeking a second growth curve, extending the industry chain, and aligning with market directions.

At the industry chain level, Jiemai Technology is primarily focused on enhancing the technical content: the company is currently more involved on the electronic packaging materials side, and by entering the ultra-precision processing equipment sector, it has the opportunity to upgrade from “selling consumables” to “selling solutions + key equipment.” Furthermore, Jiemai itself has certain technical accumulation in new businesses like optical films and release films with surface treatment, coating, and precision control.

In the direction of high-end equipment and self-controllability, ion beam polishing and magnetorheological polishing are typical “bottleneck” links in ultra-precision manufacturing, with the domestic market long relying on imported high-end equipment. Aifusi has certain potential for domestic substitution, aligning with policy encouragement and benefiting the company’s new narrative of “high-end equipment + domestic substitution.”

In terms of customer synergy, Aifusi’s clients include optical and optoelectronic companies such as Fuzhou Crystal Technology, Maolai Optics, and Wavelength Optoelectronics, as well as research institutions like the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Science and Technology of China. Jiemai Technology covers a large number of customers in consumer electronics, passive components, and semiconductor packaging. The two have overlap in the mid-to-high-end electronic and optical manufacturing groups, presenting an opportunity to provide bundled services of “comprehensive solutions + equipment + consumables,” enhancing customer loyalty.

However, the apparent issue is that the union of the two is unlikely to solve Jiemai Technology’s aforementioned “ceiling” and volatility shortfalls in the short term. Analysis indicates that the downstream customers of ultra-precision optical equipment mainly consist of research institutions, military, and a few high-end optical companies, with orders following project-based and centralized procurement models, exhibiting even greater volatility than the company’s main consumer electronics consumables.

Moreover, ion beam/magnetorheological polishing belongs to a long-cycle R&D track, with iterations constrained by advancements in downstream process nodes (such as improvements in lithography and remote sensing imaging indicators). Aifusi is a typical “small yet refined” engineering R&D company, and even if consolidated, its short-term impact on Jiemai Technology’s overall revenue and profits is limited.

The factors that will ultimately determine success or failure have yet to fully emerge: its valuation and performance commitments are not transparent, and there are currently no clear transaction valuations or performance wagering terms.

Additionally, whether Jiemai Technology can truly understand and respect Aifusi’s pace of technological innovation, rather than simply applying “manufacturing industry thinking” to press for efficiency and cost; whether it can build a genuinely closed-loop technology and customer ecosystem around “ultra-precision processing + high-end electronic materials” within 3–5 years?

The long bearish line on the first day of resumption reflects the market’s oscillation over its uncertainties. (Written by Company Observation, Author: Huang Tian, Edited by Cao Shengyuan)

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