일루바타 코어엑스가 380개 기업의 고객 기반과 국내 AI 서버 공급망에 대한 심화된 통합을 반영하여 항셍 테크 지수의 첫 GPU 구성 종목으로 편입되었다.

On September 7, 2026, the adjustments to the Hang Seng TECH Index will officially take effect. Iluvatar CoreX becomes the index’s first and currently sole GPU-sector constituent, joining 30 leading technology enterprises including Tencent, Meituan, and Xiaomi. As the effective date approaches, the substantive story lies in the company’s newly released first-half 2026 financial report. This filing not only establishes the quality of its index inclusion but also documents a critical inflection point for a domestic GPU manufacturer: transitioning from “scale delivery” to “scale profitability.”

Among domestic GPU vendors, Iluvatar CoreX distinguishes itself as the only company that consistently and quantitatively discloses its customer count. The figure has expanded from 22 in 2022, to 181 in 2024, over 290 in the first half of 2025, and more than 340 by year-end 2025. As of June 30, 2026, it reached 380, spanning critical sectors such as internet services, AI large models, finance, healthcare, and scientific research. This progression confirms that the product has completed adaptation and validation across multiple industries, evolving from relying on “a few validation clients” to achieving “broad multi-industry coverage.” Building on this foundation, the mid-year report explicitly notes the company is now focused on “expanding its market and customer base, and deepening cooperation with key clients.” This strategic pivot toward penetrating major accounts and increasing per-client output aligns directly with the structural surge in inference-related revenue.

In the first half of 2026, Iluvatar CoreX generated revenue of 946 million RMB, representing a year-on-year increase of 191.6%. General-purpose GPU revenue accounted for 916 million RMB, or 96.9% of total revenue. This proportion is particularly significant within the current domestic GPU landscape. With 96.9% of revenue derived directly from chip and board sales, growth is primarily driven by actual hardware shipments rather than integrated system projects. From a financial standpoint, this revenue structure offers greater sustainability and predictability, while more accurately reflecting genuine downstream procurement demand for self-developed GPUs. The fully operational production pipeline from wafer to finished board yields exceptionally high “chip content”—a defining operational characteristic of the company.

Behind the revenue acceleration lies a fundamental shift in product mix. In H1 2025, training GPU revenue stood at 190 million RMB (58.5% of total), while inference GPU revenue was 87.02 million RMB (26.8%). By H1 2026, training revenue grew to 262 million RMB (+38.0% YoY), whereas inference revenue surged to 654 million RMB (+651.8% YoY), climbing to 69.2% of total revenue. Inference has become the absolute primary growth engine. Crucially, this expansion was not achieved through price erosion: inference product gross margin improved from 32.4% to 35.6%, and training product gross margin rose from 58.6% to 64.5%. Both product lines experienced internal profitability improvements. The overall GPU business gross margin declined from 50.3% to 43.9% purely due to a structural shift toward the lower-margin inference segment, reflecting a compositional drag rather than deteriorating competitive strength.

The consolidated gross margin further contracted to 17.2%, driven by two non-recurring factors. First, an inventory write-down of 72.12 million RMB. Second, the company recognized approximately 14.78 million RMB in revenue from reselling semiconductor components in H1, which corresponded to a 171 million RMB gross loss (gross margin of -1157.3%). This transaction fulfilled specific client demands by selling previously stocked components below cost, a move the company attributed to long-term partnership considerations. Excluding these two items, the core GPU business gross margin remained stable at 43.9%.

Companies entering the scale-delivery phase typically see their balance sheets grow heavier first. As of June 30, 2026, Iluvatar CoreX’s inventory reached 1.968 billion RMB, up 177% from 710 million RMB at the end of 2025. Prepayments and other receivables increased from 630 million RMB to 1.942 billion RMB, while trade payables rose from 31.13 million RMB to 827 million RMB. This expansion reflects necessary upfront supply chain investments. GPU manufacturing spans multiple stages—wafers, advanced packaging, memory, substrates—with extended lead times and tight supply for certain materials. Procurement cannot wait for order confirmation if the company aims to meet key clients’ delivery timelines. Consequently, procurement expenditures must occur in advance, causing cash outflows to precede revenue recognition. The 2.786 billion RMB net operating cash outflow in H1 (compared to a 716 million RMB outflow in the same period last year) is a direct financial manifestation of this operational reality.

In July, the company completed a new H-share placement, raising approximately 7.07 billion HKD, with roughly 60% earmarked for supply chain resilience and procurement planning. Management considers current supply chain investments essential. Whether this inventory can effectively convert into deliveries and cash inflows will depend on order execution efficiency in the coming quarters.

The company reported a net profit of 106 million RMB for H1, reversing a 609 million RMB loss in the same period last year and marking its first interim profit. However, the income statement includes a significant non-operating item: a 760.2 million RMB gain from fair value adjustments on its equity investment in SJ Semiconductor (an advanced packaging firm), triggered by the portfolio company’s IPO. As of late June, the investment’s fair value stood at 856 million RMB against a cost basis of 100 million RMB, yielding a cumulative unrealized gain of 755.9 million RMB. Deducting this fair value gain, the core business remains operationally unprofitable. H1 R&D expenses totaled 559 million RMB, up 23.8% YoY. With revenue growth (191.6%) significantly outpacing R&D spending growth, early economies of scale are beginning to materialize.

The Hang Seng TECH Index’s official inclusion of Iluvatar CoreX on September 7 acknowledges its industry positioning and market scale. Yet long-term capital market pricing ultimately hinges on establishing a sustainable financial closed loop: Can inference revenue sustain high growth? Will the 1.968 billion RMB inventory smoothly convert into deliveries and cash recovery? Can deepening ties with strategic key clients push revenue past the break-even threshold? These questions will be validated quarter by quarter through cash conversion cycles and customer repurchase rates. At minimum, the 96.9% share of chip and board revenue indicates a sufficiently solid growth foundation. The next step for Iluvatar CoreX is proving how much profit margin this foundation can ultimately support.