IPO Preview | When AI terminals bring new demand, can Microelectronics New Energy grab the next ferry ticket?

In the public perception map, the story of lithium batteries is almost monopolized by trillion-level giants such as power batteries and energy storage batteries — 100 billion production capacity and global competition form the main line of this energy revolution. However, in the “micro” world where the giants have no time to take care of it, a very different race is playing out: the smaller the battery, the steeper the technical threshold, and the more customer stickiness.

Recently, Microelectronics Renewables submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which has been underestimated for a long time but is growing at an astonishing rate — miniature lithium-ion batteries.

This microbattery manufacturer, ranked second among Chinese suppliers and fourth in the world, is trying to prove to the capital market that achieving the ultimate in an inconspicuous racetrack can also support the basic market of a listed company. But when the story comes to the profit table, what are the real characteristics of the players in this industry?

The new business is being deployed at an accelerated pace, and growth is yet to be verified by mass production

Judging from operating data, the growth of Micropower New Energy over the past few years has strong industrial cycle characteristics: from 2023 to 2025, the company achieved operating income of 351 million yuan, 533 million yuan, and 565 million yuan respectively. Revenue in 2024 increased 51.7% year-on-year, showing strong scaling capacity. In the first half of 2026, the company achieved operating revenue of 337 million yuan, an increase of 18.0% over the previous year, and maintained relatively rapid growth on a high revenue base, indicating that the demand base for core business still exists.

Among them, smart wearables have always been the company's revenue pillar. From 2023 to 2025, this business accounted for 76.5%, 78.4%, and 75.5% of revenue, respectively. Furthermore, the company's share of revenue from the field of personal intelligent healthcare increased from 8.1% in 2023 to 10.8% in 2025, reaching a further 11.9% in the first half of 2026.

At the same time, the company's development service revenue was 12.3 million yuan, and in the first half of 2026, it reached 38.7 million yuan, accounting for 11.3% of revenue for the same period, a sharp increase of 612.8% over the previous year. This means that the company is simply selling battery products in the past and is gradually increasing its service capabilities to carry out R&D, design and joint development around new customer products.

The significance of this change is not entirely reflected in the revenue scale of development services themselves. For miniature battery companies, customers participate in battery solution development at the new product design stage, which means that suppliers can intervene in product definition earlier and collaborate with customers on battery size, structure, material system, and manufacturing process. Once related products enter mass production, early R&D relationships may be further transformed into stable battery orders.

Therefore, development services are more like an “entry point” into a new product supply chain, and their commercial value may be higher than the current revenue contribution itself.

In terms of profitability, the company's performance in 2024 was particularly outstanding. Gross profit increased from 102 million yuan in 2023 to 186 million yuan, and gross margin increased from 29.0% to 35.0%. Take wearable device batteries as an example. Through process improvements and large-scale production, the company reduced the unit cost from 3.3 yuan to 2.8 yuan, while the average selling price dropped from 4.6 yuan to 4.2 yuan, which still drove the product's gross margin to increase from 28.3% to 32.6%.

In 2025, the company's gross margin fell back to 32.0%, mainly affected by factors such as changes in battery sales prices for wearable devices, rising prices for some raw materials, changes in export tax rebate policies, and increased fixed costs during the production expansion phase. However, judging from the performance in the first half of 2026, the company's gross margin has rebounded to 32.7%, and net profit increased 12.1% year-on-year to 26.3 million yuan.

At the same time, the company is looking for new increases in demand. Zhitong Finance App learned that by the end of June 2026, the company has begun mass production of ultra-thin curved batteries for smart rings, and is expected to achieve large-scale delivery in the second half of 2026. In addition, the company has signed an AI toy development and supply agreement with a global toy manufacturer, with an estimated order volume of about 10 million pieces, and is expected to enter large-scale production and delivery from 2027. In addition, the company is also actively expanding applications such as drones, smart action cameras, robots, and high-power laminated batteries.

It is worth mentioning that the common characteristic of these new scenarios is that they place different requirements on batteries than traditional TWS products. For example, smart rings pay more attention to battery thickness and curved shape. AI terminals may require higher instantaneous power and longer battery life, while devices such as robots and drones may further increase the requirements for energy density, magnification performance, and safety.

For Microelectric New Energy, this is not only an expansion of market space, but also an opportunity to upgrade its technical capabilities from “mature product scale manufacturing” to “multi-specification customized battery solutions”.

As competition moves from cost to technology, how far can microelectric energy go?

If TWS and smart wearables form the current basic market of Microelectronics Energy, then R&D capabilities and customer collaboration will determine whether this company can actually open up a second growth curve.

According to the prospectus, the company continues to increase R&D investment, with R&D expenses of about 54.3 million yuan in 2024 and further increasing to 93.5 million yuan in 2025, an increase of 72.1% over the previous year; the number of R&D personnel also increased from 235 in 2024 to 411 in 2025. The R&D focus is on miniaturization, high energy density, safety, fast charging and cycle life.

The importance of this type of investment for miniature battery companies is that customers' new products often do not have fully standardized battery specifications. In particular, new terminals such as smart rings, AI toys, and robots have large differences in product form and internal space, and batteries often need to be customized according to the terminal structure.

Therefore, companies that can quickly complete battery design, structural adjustment, material matching, process development, and mass production introduction are more likely to obtain orders during the customer's new product cycle.

According to the Zhitong Finance App, the technology accumulation of Microelectronics New Energy in some products has begun to migrate to new applications. For example, the company continues to invest in button battery structure, safety design, and fast charging technology. Some products support a charging ratio of 8 to 10C, and can only charge from a fully discharged state to 80% in about 6 minutes.

At the same time, the company is also promoting solid-state and semi-solid-state battery technology, and commercializing miniature solid-state batteries in 2024. Although these new technologies ultimately need to be tested by customers and mass production on a large scale, judging from industry logic, the company continues to make cutting-edge technology reserves, which will help improve its ability to cope with changes in demand for next-generation terminal products.

Another notable change is the customer structure. The company's revenue share from end customers fell from 93.6% in 2023 to 89.7% in 2025, and fell further to 85.7% in the first half of 2026; the top five customer revenue share also fell from 51.7% in 2023 to 43.3% in the first half of 2026, and the largest single customer's share of revenue fell from 21.0% to 12.7%. The gradual decline in customer concentration means that the company is expanding its customer coverage and provides a better foundation for the continued release of new products and applications in the future.

At the same time, the company's operating cash flow performance has also improved. Net cash flows from operating activities from 2023 to 2025 were approximately RMB 32.3 million, RMB 84.93 million and RMB 188 million respectively. At the end of June 2026, cash and cash equivalents were approximately RMB 271 million, and bank loans were approximately RMB 64 million. Overall, the company already has some self-hematopoietic capacity, which is particularly important for a manufacturing enterprise in the continuous expansion of production and investment in R&D.

From the perspective of industrial competition, the global consumer grade micro lithium-ion battery market is not an easy track to enter. The customer certification cycle, product consistency, yield, delivery capacity, and cost control ability all affect a supplier's long-term competitive position.

Microelectric New Energy can enter the world's leading consumer electronics industry chain and achieve high market rankings in the field of wireless headphone miniature batteries, indicating that the company already has certain manufacturing and customer service capabilities. What is really worth watching in the future is whether these capabilities can be further replicated in incremental markets such as smart rings, AI terminals, robots, and drones.

Therefore, the investment logic of Microelectronics New Energy is not only “growth in the miniature battery industry,” but a more specific industrial upgrading logic: establishing scale and customer base with TWS and smart wearables, entering new products with R&D and joint development capabilities, and then achieving order conversion through mass production.

If new applications such as smart rings, AI toys, robots, and drones can be gradually expanded according to the prospectus plan, the company's revenue structure is expected to be further diversified, and the growth space will also be extended from the mature consumer electronics market to a new round of smart terminal industry chains.

Currently, the company's new business is still in the continuous introduction stage, and the final contribution still depends on the pace of launch of customer products, order fulfillment, and mass production efficiency. In the future, judging the core value of this company will also gradually shift from “how much can the existing business grow” to “how much increase new products can contribute”.

If businesses such as smart rings, AI terminals, and high-power batteries can successfully enter the large-scale stage, Microelectric New Energy is expected to further open up new growth space while consolidating the traditional consumer electronics battery business. At that time, whether the company can complete the transition from a “miniature battery manufacturer” to a “new smart terminal battery solution provider” will be the key to observing its long-term growth.