Revenue and net profit hit record highs; Sanhua Intelligent Controls bets big on the new robotics track, with a market value loss of over 50 billion yuan this year.

Source: Times Finance Author: Zhou Li

                      Image source: Tuchong Creative           

As a “hidden champion” in the global thermal management field, Sanhua Intelligent Control (002050.SZ; 02050.HK) has once again validated its market position through its performance. The latest disclosed annual report for 2025 shows that last year, Sanhua Intelligent Control achieved record highs in both revenue and net profit.

Specifically, the company reported revenue of 31.012 billion yuan for the 2025 fiscal year, an increase of 10.97% year-on-year; the net profit attributable to the parent company was 4.063 billion yuan, an increase of 31.10%, with the profit growth rate significantly exceeding the revenue growth rate. Notably, Wind data indicates that Sanhua Intelligent Control’s net profit margin has reached 13.24%, a new high in nearly 16 years.

Regarding the reasons for the performance growth, Sanhua Intelligent Control mentioned in a previous earnings forecast that during the reporting period, the company continued to consolidate its leading position in the refrigeration and air conditioning electrical components business, fully grasping opportunities from market demand growth, combined with the deep technological accumulation and large-scale production advantages of its core products, which drove sustained growth in this business.

“At the same time, leveraging its leading market layout in the global new energy vehicle thermal management sector, the company has continually expanded high-quality orders with the demonstration effect of benchmark customers, further solidifying the performance growth momentum of its automotive components business. The collaborative efforts of the two major business segments have provided strong support for the company’s annual performance growth,” Sanhua Intelligent Control stated.

According to the regular report, Sanhua Intelligent Control focuses on the research and application of heat pump technology and thermal management systems, concentrating on developing environmental thermal management solutions that achieve efficient heat exchange and temperature intelligent control. The business spans two major segments: refrigeration and air conditioning electrical components and automotive components, and based on long-term technological accumulation and research and development innovation, it is expanding into emerging fields such as bionic robot electromechanical actuators.

By product classification, the refrigeration and air conditioning electrical components business is the “pillar” of Sanhua Intelligent Control’s performance, with operating revenue of 18.585 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.22%; while the automotive components business, the “second-in-command,” reported operating revenue of 12.427 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.14%, accounting for about 40% of total revenue. While there is a revenue gap, the gross profit margins of both are not far apart, at 28.77% and 28.79%, respectively.

From a regional perspective, domestic sales revenue reached 17.688 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.51%, with an increase in revenue share, while foreign sales revenue also grew by 6.58% year-on-year to 13.323 billion yuan, with a gross profit margin of 31.19%, higher than the domestic margin of 26.96%.

It is worth noting that Sanhua Intelligent Control’s cash and cash equivalents increased from 5.249 billion yuan at the beginning of 2025 to 14.912 billion yuan at the end of 2025, with the proportion of total assets rising from 14.44% to 30.18%. The company stated that this was mainly due to its successful completion of stock issuance in Hong Kong and the arrival of raised funds.

On June 23 last year, Sanhua Intelligent Control successfully went public in Hong Kong. At that time, the company mentioned in the allocation results announcement that its total fundraising amounted to 9.336 billion Hong Kong dollars. Of this, about 10% of the funds raised will be used for the research and development of bionic robots and related technologies. This is also the strategic emerging business mentioned in the company’s regular reports since last year.

According to public information, Sanhua Intelligent Control has been a tier-one supplier to Tesla since 2017, primarily providing core components of thermal management systems for Tesla’s Model 3, Model X, and Model S vehicles. After 2020, Sanhua Intelligent Control further expanded its cooperation scope, providing integrated thermal management components for Tesla’s new energy vehicles.

Musk has publicly stated that about “80% of Tesla’s long-term value” will come from the humanoid robot Optimus. One of the unlocking conditions for the trillion-dollar equity incentive plan proposed by Tesla’s board to Musk is to deliver one million humanoid robots within ten years.

To seize new business opportunities in the bionic robot industry, Sanhua Intelligent Control plans to invest in the research and development of electromechanical actuators and other major components of bionic robots, aiming to hire about 200 R&D talents by 2028.

In this year’s business plan, Sanhua Intelligent Control has placed significant emphasis on its bionic robot business—the company will focus on electromechanical actuators, continuing to collaborate with customers on key product R&D, prototyping, iteration, and sample delivery, while increasing development efforts on critical components of electromechanical actuators. At the same time, it will actively expand overseas production of electromechanical actuators and continually expand its R&D team to consolidate its first-mover advantage in the emerging market for bionic robot electromechanical actuators.

Whether the robot business can bring performance growth to Sanhua Intelligent Control in the short term, the capital market has already reacted in advance.

In the booming year of 2025 for robot concepts, Sanhua Intelligent Control’s stock price has been impressive. Wind data shows that Sanhua Intelligent Control’s A-shares rose from around 20 yuan/share at the beginning of 2025 to 55.19 yuan/share by December 31, achieving an annual increase of 137.27%. The upward trend continued into early 2026, reaching a historical high of 60.77 yuan/share on January 19 before fluctuating downward, with the stock price dropping over 20% within the year and a total market value evaporating by over 50 billion yuan; while the Hong Kong stock has seen an increase of 28.33% since its listing.

It is noteworthy that in the year of dramatic stock price growth in 2025, some shareholders of Sanhua Intelligent Control were reducing their holdings. Among the top ten shareholders in A-shares, the concerted action of the actual controller Zhang Yabo—Zhejiang Sanhua Green Energy Industrial Group Co., Ltd. reduced its holdings by 78.3828 million shares in 2025.