Memory chips, circuit-board laminates and optical parts supply the largest AI-linked profit gains among early A-share reporters, making DRAM and component prices the figures investors need to track.
CXMT, the Hefei-based DRAM maker listed on Shanghai’s STAR Market, has put a number on how much the AI hardware cycle is worth to China’s listed companies. In a voluntary filing reported by National Business Daily late on October 16, the company forecast revenue of RMB265 billion to RMB270 billion for the first nine months of 2026. CXMT expects net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB131 billion to RMB132.5 billion for the first nine months, against a loss of RMB5.28 billion a year earlier. Revenue in the same period of 2025 was RMB32.08 billion.
CXMT sits at the top of a broader run of good news. By 6pm on October 18, 159 A-share companies had published third-quarter forecasts, and 132 of them, or 83.02%, expected better results, according to Wind data cited by Shanghai Securities News. Of the 132, 98 forecast higher profits, 13 a return to profit and 21 a modest rise. Sixty-one companies expected net profit to more than double, and seven expected it to rise more than tenfold.
The newspaper also searched the profit-increase announcements for the term "AI" and found 37 companies that said they had benefited from it. The forecasts are unaudited, and CXMT and MetaX both say their formal third-quarter reports will govern. The count also covers only the companies that have reported so far, so the 83.02% positive share describes early filers alone.
Memory, circuit boards and optics carry the AI share of the gains
CXMT’s filing ties its swing to AI computing demand since the second half of 2025, which it says lifted the DRAM market, left products in short supply and pushed prices up sharply. It also cites higher output per wafer and capacity utilization that remains high. By its own count of shipments and sales, CXMT says it is now China’s largest DRAM maker and the world’s fourth largest, according to National Business Daily. On the same evening, chairman Zhu Yiming proposed a share buyback of RMB1 billion to RMB2 billion.
The same AI demand runs through forecasts elsewhere in the hardware supply chain. Shengyi Technology, which makes copper-clad laminates, the base material for printed circuit boards, expects nine-month net profit of RMB6.46 billion to RMB6.87 billion, up 164% to 181%, according to Securities Times. It cites rising raw-material prices, strong high-end demand and new capacity. Hengtong Optic-Electric forecast net profit of RMB5.97 billion to RMB6.37 billion, up 151.27% to 168.10%, and linked the gain to AI and rising data-center spending on optical communications.
Smaller suppliers show the same pattern. Tengjing Technology (腾景科技), which supplies optical components, expects revenue growth of 84.9% to 97.22% on orders tied to AI infrastructure, Shanghai Securities News reported. JLC (嘉立创) forecast profit growth of 78.76% to 118.48% and pointed to research demand from faster hardware development. In an Alibaba-owned South China Morning Post report, laser-chip maker Yuanjie Semiconductor Technology forecast quarterly net profit of RMB403 million to RMB453 million, up 579% to 660%, on data-center demand.
Commodity price recovery accounts for much of the rest of the wave
The 37 AI-linked companies make up fewer than a third of the 132 positive forecasts. Shanghai Securities News named cyclical price recovery in chemicals and other commodities as a second driver, and overseas sales as a third. Rongsheng Petrochemical (荣盛石化) expects net profit of RMB7.8 billion to RMB8.2 billion, up 777.93% to 822.95%, on better refining margins and overseas fuel demand. Some of the AI-linked gains also rest on prices. Xinrui (新锐股份), a tungsten carbide tool maker that has added circuit-board drills through acquisitions, forecast profit growth of 318% to 355%, helped partly by higher tungsten prices and its ability to raise selling prices, according to Securities Times.
GPU designer MetaX shows AI demand reaching chip designers as well as component makers, though reports of its forecast differ. Securities Daily described a narrower loss, while MetaX’s own filing forecasts nine-month net profit of RMB586.8 million to RMB717.19 million, against a loss of RMB345.5 million a year earlier, on revenue up 105.60% to 151.29%. SCMP also reported that MetaX turned a profit. CXMT’s scale stands apart. Its forecast net profit of RMB131.0 billion to RMB132.5 billion sits against revenue of RMB265.0 billion to RMB270.0 billion.
Formal quarterly reports will show whether the margins hold
The next check comes with the formal third-quarter reports, which will replace the preliminary ranges with final figures and a full income statement. CXMT’s shares had risen 419.86% this year by the October 16 close, giving it a market value of RMB3.06 trillion, National Business Daily reported. Its filing attributes the profit to tight DRAM supply and sharply higher prices, which makes memory pricing the variable investors will track most closely between now and the next reporting season.
EastFrontier reported on October 13 that CXMT is preparing a server-memory product based on a denser DRAM cell design. That product would take CXMT further into server memory. The formal report’s figures on sales and capacity will show how much of that demand the company is already capturing as the remaining A-share companies file.