On the evening of April 29, domestic semiconductor IP vendor VeriSilicon released its 2026 first-quarter financial report. The company achieved operating revenue of RMB 836 million, a year-on-year surge of 114.47%. Net profit attributable to listed shareholders stood at negative RMB 341 million, widening notably from a loss of RMB 220 million in the same period last year.
The financial results reveal two core factors behind the expanded net loss:
Sustained high R&D investment: The company maintains heavy research and development spending to sustain technological competitiveness. Total R&D investment in the reporting period reached RMB 485 million, up 53.38% year-on-year. Although its proportion of operating revenue declined to 58.04% amid strong income growth, the absolute increase in expenditure continued to pressure profitability.
Declining overall gross margin: The company’s overall gross margin for the quarter was 32.29%, down 6.76 percentage points year-on-year. VeriSilicon attributed the decline primarily to changes in revenue structure. The proportion of one-stop chip customization business with relatively lower gross margin — especially volume production services — rose rapidly, dragging down the overall margin. Nevertheless, the company emphasized that its business model features strong scalability, and most gross profit generated from volume production can ultimately contribute to net profit.
The highlight of VeriSilicon’s Q1 performance lies in explosive growth in orders and revenue. In the first quarter of 2026, the company newly signed orders totaling RMB 8.24 billion, of which AI computing power-related orders accounted for 91.37%, equivalent to approximately RMB 7.559 billion. The influx of orders directly drove revenue growth. Revenue from its one-stop chip customization business rose 145.90% year-on-year, while revenue from volume production within this segment jumped as high as 219.93%, emerging as the core engine driving business expansion.
At the end of the reporting period, VeriSilicon’s outstanding order backlog reached RMB 5.133 billion, remaining at a high level for ten consecutive quarters. More than 90% of pending orders are expected to be recognized as revenue within one year, providing strong visibility for future growth.
Overall, VeriSilicon’s financial performance distinctly reflects the operational characteristics of a platform-based chip design service provider. High upfront R&D spending and a business shift toward large-scale volume production inevitably weigh on short-term profitability. In the long run, however, as AI penetration accelerates from the cloud to edge devices, global demand for customized AI ASICs and advanced semiconductor IP will remain robust.
Boasting profound technological accumulation in core IP fields including GPU, NPU and VPU, VeriSilicon maintains a solid order backlog with deep integration into the global AI industrial chain. Its customer base continues expanding to major internet firms and cloud service providers, securing an advantageous position within the industry ecosystem.
Boosted by the year-on-year doubling of quarterly revenue and AI computing power-related orders hitting RMB 7.559 billion, VeriSilicon’s share price surged by more than 19% at one point on April 30.
(Reprinted from https://news.eccn.com/）