Jumping on the OpenAI hype? Zhongjian Technology's net profit doubles, but excluding non-recurring gains, it declines by 20%

Embodied intelligence’s heatwave is sweeping through the A-share market, and many companies are using it to expand their second growth curve; Zhongjian Technology is one of them.

On the evening of March 30, Zhongjian Technology disclosed its 2025 annual financial report, and a set of figures is particularly noteworthy. Last year, it achieved net profit attributable to the parent of RMB 173 million, up 166.85% year over year; however, its non-recurring gain (loss) net profit was only RMB 41 million, down 22.04% year over year.

Behind what appears to be a contradiction is Zhongjian Technology’s investment in the humanoid robot track several years ago. The company is 1X (OpenAI has also invested in it multiple times), which has been very hot in the primary market. In recent years, it has been extending into home consumer scenarios, with its valuation rising rapidly.

On March 31, after Zhongjian Technology opened, it surged and then fell back. By market close, it was down 1.03%.

1X’s share of earnings and profits exceeds 90%

In March 2024, Zhongjian Technology invested in 1X Holding AS (hereinafter “1X”). This investment has now proven to be an excellent deal.

According to Zhongjian Technology’s 2025 annual financial report, the investment income accounted for by its investment in 1X totaled RMB 167 million, accounting for 96.05% of profit. Zhongjian Technology also explained: “(Changes in performance) were mainly due to the company increasing investment in its embodied intelligence business, which caused research and development expenses and management expenses to both increase significantly year over year. The impact on the increase in net profit attributable to the parent last year was mainly from the fair value changes that generated investment income arising from the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary TOPSUN USA INC. indirectly holding part of the equity interest in 1X Holding AS.”

1X is the world’s first company to achieve commercial use of a general-purpose robot. Its predecessor, Halodi Robotics, was founded in Norway in 2014. In 2020, it successfully secured an order for 140 humanoid robots from ADT Security Services, a leading U.S. security services company, and was among the first globally to achieve commercialization.

In August 2024, 1X officially launched a bipedal humanoid robot prototype designed specifically for home use—NEO Beta—marking NEO’s transition from concept development to home consumer scenarios.

In March 2025, at NVIDIA’s GTC conference, 1X demonstrated Neo Gamma’s ability for the humanoid robot to perform basic tasks in a living room, including vacuuming and watering flowers, among other activities, with partial remote control, preparing it for entry into the home.

Last October, 1X released its home humanoid robot NEO, priced at $20,000 (about RMB 140,000). It also offers a monthly subscription option at $499 per month (about RMB 3,542), and reservations are open. The first batch of orders is expected to be delivered in 2026.

Worth noting is that OpenAI, a leading large-model vendor, has been participating in investments in 1X for two consecutive rounds since 2023.

A research report from Hualong Securities holds that 1X has been so favored by OpenAI because it embeds the concept of embodied learning throughout the R&D process. It requires robot products to run autonomously without operator control, and to improve the accuracy and safety of its movements through a large number of repeated operations, thereby achieving a more fundamentally “human-like” quality in the robot.

High-intensity R&D and the pains of transformation

In fact, it’s not only 1X; Zhongjian Technology is also rapidly transforming toward embodied intelligence.

In its latest annual report, Zhongjian Technology clearly stated: “The company is mainly engaged in the R&D, design, production, and sales of landscape machinery. Recently, the company has focused on building a second core business segment, focusing on the R&D and manufacturing of advanced intelligent robots.”

On top of its original landscape machinery business, Zhongjian Technology has extended into the intelligent lawn-mowing robot market. In 2023, it established Shanghai Zhongjian Kaike Robot Co., Ltd., formed an R&D team, and specifically developed a new generation of lawn-mowing robot products. In 2025, its intelligent lawn-mowing robot products already have small-batch orders.

In addition, in May 2024, Zhongjian Technology also established a controlling subsidiary, Jiangsu Jianmi Intelligent Robotics Co., Ltd. The first four-legged robot brand it developed, the Lingrui model P1, can be used for inspections and management in industrial parks, firefighting and public security, daily inspections of power grid and power operations, as well as special work scenarios such as inspections at smelting enterprises and in hazardous chemical businesses.

Zhongjian Technology has also participated in collaboration with Huawei. On November 15, 2024, Zhongjian Technology attended the signing ceremony for the enterprise cooperation memorandum for H (Shenzhen) Global Embodied Intelligence Industry Innovation Center and signed the enterprise cooperation memorandum. Recently, Zhongjian Technology established Shenzhen Huazhijing Robot Technology Co., Ltd.; currently, the cooperation is further connecting and advancing.

A deep layout in the embodied intelligence track means it needs to strike some balance between high R&D investment and business revenue, and especially before orders have ramped up, it is a major test for operating cash flow.

Since 2023, Zhongjian Technology’s R&D expenses for each year have been RMB 31 million, RMB 73 million, and RMB 122 million respectively, all continuing to grow rapidly. Because embodied intelligence also significantly increases requirements for talent density, its management expenses rose markedly from RMB 62 million in 2023 to RMB 116 million in 2025, with the rapid increase in employee compensation being the biggest contributor.

At the same time, Zhongjian Technology’s net cash flow from operating activities from 2023 to 2025 was RMB 11 million, RMB 6 million, and negative RMB 49 million, showing signs that it has begun to “bleed” cash.

Worth mentioning is that, to expand its financing channels, in August last year Zhongjian Technology announced that it planned to issue H shares. According to the HKEX website, it first submitted the IPO application documents to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in November of that same year.

The robot narrative brought by the trillion-dollar blue ocean of embodied intelligence is indeed sufficiently exciting, but in the capital markets, after the story is told, it ultimately has to be validated by performance. Whether the pigs on the wind can grow wings remains to be observed.

(Author: Deng Hao; Editor: Zheng Shifeng, Zhang Weixian)

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