Direct Coverage of Earnings Call | Kingdee International's Xu Shaochun: AI Transformation is a "Battle for Survival," Kingdee's AI-Native Business Revenue to Reach 50% by 2030

Why is AI Kingdee’s transformation called a life-and-death battle?

By Reporter: Chen Pengli Edited by: Chen Junjie

This is an annual performance meeting that investors are highly focused on.

On March 18, Kingdee International (HK00268, stock price 10.02 HKD, market value 35.57 billion HKD, hereafter referred to as Kingdee Group) held its 2025 annual earnings release in Hong Kong. The reporter from Daily Economic News noticed on-site that this event was extremely “AI-heavy,” with questions from investors and media heavily focused on AI. This is because, in early February this year, comments claiming “AI will kill SaaS (Software as a Service, a cloud service model)” sparked panic, leading to a sharp decline in global SaaS stock prices, and Kingdee International’s stock was also significantly affected throughout February.

So, will AI swallow or replace software? Is Kingdee already prepared, and how will the AI transformation be carried out? During the event, several senior executives of Kingdee responded to these questions. Xu Shaochun, Chairman and CEO of Kingdee Group, said that a series of events occurred from late last year to early this year, and the AI era is indeed coming quickly. As a revolutionary and innovator in the software industry, Kingdee feels a sense of crisis but also excitement. “The era belonging to our industry has arrived.”

Last year, Kingdee accelerated its AI transformation. Xu Shaochun stated that this is Kingdee’s fourth transformation and also its “life-and-death battle.” But Kingdee has a firm belief in victory and will once again “transform.” Xu Shaochun said that by 2030, Kingdee aims to recreate “another Kingdee” with AI. At that time, the revenue from “AI + SaaS” and native AI businesses will each account for 50%.

“We have a firm belief in victory in transformation”

Kingdee International’s 2025 annual financial report shows that the group achieved revenue of 7.006 billion RMB last year, a 12% increase year-on-year. The profit attributable to the company’s equity holders was about 93 million RMB, and adjusted net profit was about 232 million RMB, both turning from loss to profit year-on-year, meeting the profit target as scheduled.

The day after this financial report was released, on March 18, Kingdee International’s stock price rose by 5.7% for the day.

From the secondary market perspective, since January 2026, the global software industry has been under suspicion of being “disrupted by artificial intelligence technology.” On February 3, AI startup Anthropic released efficiency tools for enterprise legal scenarios, reaching a peak of market skepticism towards the software industry. As a SaaS concept stock, Kingdee International’s stock price fell a total of 22% in February.

At the 2025 annual performance release on March 18, besides investors and media present on-site, over 200 investors participated online. They are very concerned about whether Kingdee International is prepared for the AI era.

Xu Shaochun said that the pace of change in the AI era is very fast. “On one hand, we feel a sense of crisis; on the other, we are more excited. It feels like the era belonging to our industry has arrived.” He believes that now, the AI software development system, engineering methods, and technical means have gradually matured. Kingdee’s advantages are beginning to show. “We have two to three thousand R&D personnel who can master AI technology in a very short time and then leverage our strengths.” In his view, Kingdee’s advantage lies in being very familiar with customer business logic, processes, and data, “We can quickly develop an intelligent agent.”

Xu Shaochun said that Kingdee is very good at transformation, and the company is confident in this AI transformation. “We see it as a ‘life-and-death battle.’ We will definitely transform, and the result of that transformation will be Kingdee soaring.”

Similarly, Zhang Yong, President of Kingdee Group, mentioned that Kingdee has successful experience in multiple transformations, is very familiar with transformation, and is confident in facing this new change. “Even in the AI era, we are the best AI service provider and supplier for our customers.”

This year, Kingdee’s AI suite revenue is expected to exceed 1 billion RMB

On the same day one year ago, Kingdee management emphasized at its 2024 annual performance briefing that the company had successfully achieved cloud transformation, and the next goal was AI transformation, aiming to become a leading enterprise management AI company globally by 2030.

A year later, Kingdee International further refined its goal of being a “globally leading enterprise management AI company”: Kingdee aims to recreate “another Kingdee” with AI, with AI-native business revenue accounting for 50% and “AI + SaaS” business revenue also reaching 50% by 2030.

Lin Bo, Executive Director and CFO of Kingdee Group, said that in 2025, Kingdee’s AI will accelerate scenario-based implementation, with signed contracts totaling 356 million RMB. Looking ahead to 2026, Kingdee plans to drive growth through AI and globalization, with the full-year goal of double-digit revenue growth and AI suite revenue exceeding 1 billion RMB.

Liu Zhongwen, Vice President of Kingdee China and General Manager of the R&D Center, expressed confidence in maintaining an advantage in this AI competition. Compared to native AI vendors, Kingdee’s core moat is “data.” Whoever owns the most data owns the best underlying tools. Kingdee has the richest toolset and can call on it anytime in the cloud. Additionally, Kingdee’s advantages include: first, speed—being at the forefront of technological development; second, the AI called Live AI, which helps customers upgrade from current digital systems to cloud-native systems.

Xu Shaochun concluded that Kingdee is currently undergoing its fourth transformation. The last cloud service transformation took over ten years. But the AI transformation is not expected to take that long. “In two or three years, we will see the results. Giving investors a satisfactory, beyond-expectation answer in five years is to recreate ‘another Kingdee’ with AI.”

“AI’s essence is not AI itself, but the people applying AI. Success or failure depends on us,” Xu Shaochun said.

Daily Economic News