F Fourier bán dẫn chủ động giảm giá, trước IPO Xu Xiaolin thu về 75 triệu nhân dân tệ

Article by: Cheng Mengyao丨 Produced by: Rui Finance

The Fourier (03625.HK), which submitted its prospectus in a confidential manner, started its Hong Kong stock offering on March 23. The offering period runs until 12:00 noon on March 26. It is expected that trading on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange will begin at 9:00 a.m. on March 31.

For this IPO, Fourier plans a global offering of 12 million H shares. Of these, the Hong Kong public offering will be 600,000 shares, representing about 5%; the international offering will be 11.4 million shares, accounting for 95%; in addition, there is an over-allotment option of 15%.

The indicative offer price range is HK$40 to HK$50 per share. Based on the mid-price of HK$45, the company expects to raise a total of HK$540 million, corresponding to net proceeds of approximately HK$480 million. Each board lot is 100 shares, with an entry fee of about HK$5,050.43.

Regarding the use of proceeds, of which 46.8% will be used to establish a new R&D center over the next five years; about 17.8% will be used to purchase automatic test equipment and build in-house automatic test verification lines, as well as to recruit supply chain management engineers; 17.3% will be used to pursue strategic acquisitions and cooperation; 8.1% will be used for product marketing and sales.

01

Nine-tenths of revenue comes from low-power audio chips

Fights through price wars, earning annual revenue of RMB 355 million

Fourier is a Chinese supplier of power amplifier audio chips and haptic feedback chips. It uses a fabless business model. Its principal business focuses on the R&D, design and sales of low-power audio chips, mid-to-high-power audio chips, and haptic feedback chips. Its products are widely used in emerging fields such as smartphones, tablet computers, smart wearables, smart screens, smart cars, and more.

In 2022–2024 and January to October 2015 (abbreviated as the Reporting Period), Fourier achieved operating revenue of RMB 130 million, RMB 150 million, RMB 355 million, and RMB 281 million, respectively, with continuous growth; adjusted net losses of RMB 58.078 million, RMB 86.287 million, RMB 49.001 million, and RMB 33.168 million, continuously narrowing; and gross margin of 7.3%, -0.1%, 13.1%, and 20%, respectively.

In 2024, Fourier’s revenue increased year-on-year by 136.34%, and its net loss narrowed year-on-year by 39.6%; its gross margin increased year-on-year by 13.2 percentage points.

By product line, low-power audio chips are Fourier’s core source of revenue, contributing more than 90% of operating revenue during the period; from the perspective of downstream application markets, smartphones and tablet computers account for more than 85% of sales revenue.

According to the report from Frost & Sullivan, in 2024 Fourier delivered more than 400 million power amplifier audio chips in China and more than 450 million power amplifier audio chips globally. Power amplifier audio chips have been adopted by nine of the top ten smartphone manufacturers worldwide. By total shipment volume, Fourier ranked third globally and second in China among power amplifier audio chip suppliers.

Rapidly growing revenue is the result of achieving volume by lowering prices. In 2023, Fourier’s low-power audio chip sales volume grew year-on-year by 83.99% to 214 million units, while its price fell year-on-year by 38.89%. Product gross margin decreased from 17% to 2.7%. In 2024, its power amplifier audio chip sales volume surged year-on-year by 259.43% to 11.739 million units. Prices were reduced by 13.96%, and product gross margin fell from 38.5% to 18.1%.

Fourier has acknowledged that the decline in low-power audio chip gross margin in 2023 was mainly attributable to strategically adopting a more competitive pricing approach in order to prioritize expanding market share.

It is worth noting that in 2024, the average selling price of Fourier’s low-power audio chips rebounded slightly, and gross margin also improved somewhat. However, looking further, among the two products included in its low-power audio chips, both continued to cut prices during the Reporting Period. Moreover, compared with the portable power amplifier audio chip, which has a higher average unit price, its sales volume is far less than that of the other product, the adaptive power control audio chip. This also became the main reason why Fourier’s low-power audio chip sales volume surged while average selling price fluctuated downward. In 2024, Fourier’s low-power audio chip sales volume increased by 287.63% compared with 2022, while the average selling price fell by 33.33%.

From January to October 2025, the average selling price of the product fell year-on-year by 5.71%, while sales volume grew by 3.79%, almost stagnating. However, due to effective cost control and the shift in product mix toward power amplifier audio chip products with higher gross margin, Fourier’s overall gross margin increased year-on-year by 6.6 percentage points.

02

Continuously increasing R&D investment

Dual concentration across customers and supply chains

A power amplifier audio chip is an integrated circuit module based on mixed-signal design. Through technologies such as power control algorithms and audio effects algorithms, it achieves efficient processing of audio signals and optimized output. As mentioned above, Fourier adopts a fabless business model. Under this model, Fourier mainly handles design and R&D, while wafer manufacturing, chip packaging, and all mass production testing activities are outsourced to third-party business partners.

In terms of R&D, during the period Fourier’s R&D costs continued to rise, at RMB 48.708 million, RMB 59.271 million, RMB 68.060 million, and RMB 55.690 million respectively, accounting for 57.7%, 60.2%, 62.7%, and 53.0% of total operating expenses in the same period. As of March 13, 2026, its R&D team consists of 91 members, accounting for 61.1% of total employees on the same date. Its core members all come from globally leading semiconductor companies, such as Texas Instruments and NXP Semiconductors.

Currently, Fourier holds 32 registered patents in China, 2 in the United States, and 1 in Europe, including 32 invention patents and three utility model patents. In China, it has submitted 21 pending patent applications, and in the United States, it has submitted one pending patent application. However, at present Fourier is involved in a patent dispute. Public information shows that the case will be heard in Shanghai Intellectual Property Court on April 27.

During the Reporting Period, Fourier’s purchase amounts from the top five suppliers accounted for 89.1%, 91.9%, 93.9%, and 93.5% of its total purchases in the same period, respectively. Among these, purchases from its largest supplier accounted for 31.5%, 62.0%, 52.7%, and 33.7%. At present, Fourier has established a supply chain in China, South Korea, and Japan, but its highly concentrated purchasing model still requires vigilance regarding supply chain risks.

Meanwhile, Fourier faces customer concentration risk. Across each period, its revenue from its top five customers accounted for 93.0%, 78.6%, 83.0%, and 88.2% of total revenue, respectively. If leading customers are lost or end-market demand declines, it will affect Fourier’s performance.

According to public reports, Fourier’s customers cover leading enterprises in consumer electronics, smart home, and automotive electronics industries such as Samsung, Xiaomi, Honor, Skyworth, Hisense, BYD, Changan, Chery, and others. In recent years, the rapid development of these emerging industries has driven the continuous growth of the market size of the global power amplifier audio chip industry. In order to respond to market demand in real time, Fourier’s inventory scale has increased.

As of the end of October 2025, its inventory amounted to RMB 130 million, facing impairment risk. In the same period, its cash and cash equivalents were RMB 73.463 million, short-term borrowings were RMB 81.791 million, creating a small gap.

In addition, during the Reporting Period, Fourier’s net cash flow from operating activities has been negative consecutively, with a cumulative net outflow of RMB 334 million.

03

Shunwei Capital and Huqin Technology are both shareholders

Before the IPO, Xu Xiaolin realized proceeds of RMB 75.04 million

Fourier was established in May 2016 by Xu Xiaolin and Liu Baoliang as co-founders. Both founders have work experience at NXP Semiconductors Shanghai. Xu Xiaolin worked there for 8 years; before Liu Baoliang left, he was a Chief Product Engineer. According to their resumes, the difference in when the two joined NXP Shanghai is 5 years and 5 months, and the difference between their departure dates is 1 month.

Since its establishment, Fourier has maintained a rapid pace of commercialization. In 2017, it achieved commercialization of China’s first batch of ASIC DSP integrated portable power amplifier audio chips. In 2021, it achieved commercialization sales of China’s first mid-to-high-power audio chip. In 2023, it launched China’s first automotive-grade power amplifier audio chip certified through AEC-Q100, and at the same time haptic feedback chips achieved commercialization sales.

In the capital markets, from May 2017 to August 2022, Fourier completed nine rounds of financing. The total financing amount was RMB 518.5 million. Its valuation rose from RMB 100 million after pre-Series A investment to RMB 2,275 million after the Series D financing in 2022.

Luxurious investors include well-known venture capital and industrial capital institutions such as Moore Fund, Deep Creation Venture Capital, Dachen Investment & Finance, Hexin Capital, Shunwei Capital, Junlian Capital, Hillhouse Capital, Sequoia China, Huqin Technology, Mobvoi Control? (Transsion?), Wingtech Technology, Longqi Technology, and others. During this period, Xu Xiaolin conducted multiple equity transfers, totaling realized proceeds of RMB 75.04625 million.

As of the submission of the application documents, Xu Xiaolin and Liu Baoliang collectively control 35.28% of the voting rights of the Company’s shareholders’ meeting, which makes them controlling shareholders.

Xu Xiaolin is Chairman of the Board, Executive Director, and President, controlling 32.76% of the voting rights; Liu Baoliang is a co-founder, Executive Director, Vice President, Director of Algorithm Applications, and a member of the core R&D team. He directly holds 2.52% of the shares. The two are persons acting in concert.

From 2022 to 2024, Xu Xiaolin received remuneration (excluding share-based payments) of RMB 0.933 million, RMB 0.837 million, and RMB 1.044 million, respectively. Liu Baoliang received RMB 0.915 million, RMB 0.811 million, and RMB 0.963 million, respectively.

However, in the first ten months of 2025, both of them had their pay reduced. Xu Xiaolin’s salary was RMB 0.685 million, down by RMB 0.19 million year-on-year; Liu Baoliang’s salary was RMB 0.646 million, down by RMB 0.159 million year-on-year.

Appendix: List of intermediary institutions related to Fourier’s listing and issuance

Joint sponsors: Cathay Securities Financing Co., Ltd.｜Orient Securities (Hong Kong) Limited

Legal advisers: Baker McKenzie Lawyers｜Commerce & Finance Law Offices LLP｜Fangda Partners

Auditors and reporting accountants: Ernst & Young CPA (firm)