On 30 September, Zhuhai Yice Microelectronics passed the main-board hearing of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Joint sponsors are CICC Jianyin International and Guotai Junan Financing. The robotics-chain company plans to raise more than USD 100 million and list around mid-October.
This is not Yice’s first approach to capital. In June 2022 it appointed CICC to coach a STAR Market listing, terminated that agreement in August 2025, then turned to Hong Kong. On 11 September it received the CSRC overseas-listing filing notice, clearing the last domestic procedural hurdle.
Founded in 2014 and headquartered in the Hengqin Guangdong-Macao cooperation zone in Zhuhai, Yice is the first national little-giant enterprise cultivated by Hengqin. Its choice is deliberate: no general chips, only robot-specific chips. Its core asset is the Amicro intelligent mobile-robot platform, a five-layer stack of self-developed robot MCUs, three-electric control algorithms and chips, custom sensors, robot algorithms, and an open SDK and toolchain.
The point is it sells not a chip but a turnkey solution: a customer gets a robot-ready package, skipping the long cycle from component selection to algorithm tuning. At the chip layer, Yice claims the world’s first intelligent mobile-robot dedicated SLAM SoC, its AM970 integrating a 5-TOPS NPU and SLAM IP with multi-stream video, already used in drone visual obstacle avoidance.
Revenue grows fast, profit stays negative
Revenue rose from RMB 206 million in 2023 to RMB 286 million in 2024 and RMB 407 million in 2025, a three-year compound growth of 40.5 per cent; the first four months of 2026 brought RMB 130 million, up about 50.7 per cent year on year. Robot solutions contributed 94.2, 94.9 and 95.0 per cent of revenue across those years. Gross margin climbed from 6.1 to 11.9 to 27.7 per cent.
But the profit model is unproven. Net losses were RMB 113 million, 99 million and 155 million; the first four months of 2026 lost RMB 66.74 million versus RMB 25.3 million a year earlier. Adjusted net loss narrowed from RMB 113 million to RMB 51.17 million by 2025, yet the first four months of 2026 rebounded to RMB 65.76 million. R&D spend was RMB 106 million, 115 million and 133 million, or 51.6, 40.3 and 32.6 per cent of revenue; 273 R&D staff are 75.8 per cent of employees, with 1,363 intellectual-property items including 1,125 granted patents.
Four questions hanging over the listing
First, the margin is not self-proving. Gross margin fell to 23.9 per cent in early 2026 from 30.7 per cent a year earlier. Second, the sharpest threat is in-house substitution: once Ecovacs, Roborock and Dreame bring SLAM and main-control in-house, Yice loses not one order but the whole mid-to-high-end market. Allwinner’s MR series already powers Roborock, Dreame, Narwal and Mijia flagships, Rockchip is circling, and the closest pick-and-shovel rival, Digua Robotics, has heavy backing from Didi and Meituan. Yice’s 4.2 per cent share is no wide moat.
Third, cash and inventory pressure: cash and equivalents were only RMB 172 million against an annual loss of RMB 150 million and R&D of RMB 130 million. The IPO’s expected net proceeds of at least HK$1 billion, with 70 per cent to hardware and robot AI SoC, 10 per cent to ecosystem, 10 per cent to M&A and 10 per cent to working capital, is life support, not icing. Fourth, the 18C chapter’s liquidity and valuation constraints for unprofitable hard-tech firms.
The strengths are real: the world’s first dedicated SLAM SoC, tens of millions of commercial deployments, and Xiaomi with Gree on the cap table, Xiaomi Changjiang fund at 3.57 per cent, Gree Group at 2.32 per cent, Guangdong Wuyuefeng at 17.68 per cent, plus a 40 per cent revenue compound rate. The test is whether, amid in-house substitution, general-chip down-migration and peer catch-up, it can hold the 27.7 per cent margin and reach scaled profit.
Editor’s note: This is an adapted translation of the original OFweek Robotics report. It has been trimmed and restructured for readability for an international business audience. The full original (in Chinese) is at https://robot.ofweek.com/2026-10/ART-8321203-8460-30705567.html.