Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co.,Ltd. (002415) executives revealed during a performance briefing on July 25 that the company expects to surpass 100 billion yuan in full-year revenue by 2026, achieve record profits, and see its return on equity (ROE) climb back above 20%.

The briefing attracted over 200 investment institutions, including prominent names like Yifangda Zhang Kun, Chongyang Investment's Qiu Guogen, and Gao Yi Asset's Deng Xiaofeng and Feng Liu.

In the first half of 2026, Hikvision reported revenue of 46.823 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.97%, and net profit attributable to shareholders of 7.896 billion yuan, up 39.57% from the same period last year. As of the close on July 24, Hikvision's share price stood at 35.49 yuan, giving it a total market capitalization of 325.3 billion yuan.

Chongyang Investment Becomes a Top-10 Shareholder

Qiu Guogen, who rarely participates in listed company surveys, has examined Hikvision three times in 2026. Through Chongyang Investment's private equity funds, he has been steadily increasing his stake in the company.

By the end of the first quarter of 2026, the Chongyang Strategic Wisdom Fund, a private equity product under Chongyang Investment, had re-entered as Hikvision's tenth-largest tradable shareholder, holding 53.5655 million shares.

By the end of the second quarter of 2026, the Chongyang Strategic Wisdom Fund had become Hikvision's tenth-largest overall shareholder and its eighth-largest tradable shareholder, with holdings increasing to 61.4326 million shares.

Additionally, another Chongyang Investment fund, the Chongyang Strategic Juzhi Fund, became Hikvision's tenth-largest tradable shareholder by the end of the second quarter, holding 51.7920 million shares.

Combined, the Chongyang Strategic Wisdom Fund and the Chongyang Strategic Juzhi Fund held over 113 million Hikvision shares by the end of the second quarter of 2026.

In contrast, Feng Liu made frequent surveys of Hikvision in 2026 but has been steadily reducing his position through the Gao Yi Lin Shan No. 1 Wang Yuan Fund. During the first half of 2026, this fund sold a total of 144 million Hikvision shares, including 57 million in the first quarter and 87 million in the second quarter. By the end of the second quarter, the fund remained Hikvision's eighth-largest tradable shareholder, holding 113 million shares.

Gross Margin Expected to Stay High in H2 2026

During the briefing, investors first focused on the reasons for Hikvision's gross margin improvement and the expected future range. In the second quarter of 2026, Hikvision's gross margin exceeded 50% for the first time, reaching 50.67%, marking six consecutive quarters of growth.

Historically, Hikvision's gross margin has been stable between 42% and 46%. However, in the first half of 2026, it surged by 4.78 percentage points year-on-year to 49.97%.

Hikvision executives stated that the company expects the gross margin to remain at a relatively high level in the second half of 2026. They attributed the sustained improvement to enhanced product competitiveness, streamlined product lines, and an upward shift in the gross margin center due to the industry's move away from "involution."

According to its official website, Hikvision started with video technology and has built a smart IoT technology system centered on sensing, AI, and big data, offering security and scenario-based digital products and services.

In the first half of 2026, Hikvision saw a significant improvement in its core business gross margin in both domestic and international markets. The company explained that domestic growth was driven by a combination of cyclical and trend-based demand. On the one hand, security products, being electronics with a 5-8 year replacement cycle, are entering a replacement phase, providing a stable demand base. On the other hand, the implementation of AI large model technology has created new, trend-based demand, expanding the product application boundaries.

Furthermore, Hikvision's operational adjustments, which began in mid-2024, have started to yield positive results. The net profit growth rate in the first half of 2026 was among the best in nearly a decade, with year-on-year growth rates improving quarter-on-quarter for six consecutive quarters starting from Q1 2025.

Increasing Investment in AI Large Models and Digital Scenarios

Hikvision executives said the company will continue to increase R&D and marketing investment in AI large model applications and scenario-based digitalization, aiming to bridge the physical and digital worlds. The rapid AI enablement of the physical world is a key trend, and at the 2026 World AI Conference, Hikvision showcased its Guanlan large model technology system, related hardware and software products, and multiple vertical application scenarios.

Investors at the briefing sought Hikvision's assessment of the timing for the inflection point in AI large model applications. "The inflection point is gradually emerging," executives said, noting that the industry is moving from conceptual exploration to actual project implementation.

In the first half of 2026, Hikvision's revenue from AI large model-related products grew rapidly, driven by the technology's ability to solve previously unsolvable real-world problems. For example, amid rising storage prices, Hikvision's Guanlan encoding technology uses AI to detect regions of interest (ROI) for dynamic encoding, saving users approximately 50% in storage costs on average.

While acknowledging that the fragmented nature of physical-world scenarios can slow down implementation, Hikvision executives stated that its "Guanlan" large model system, known for being comprehensive, fast, precise, and cost-effective, will continue to drive AI adoption across various industries.