IPO Preview | As AI devices bring new demand, can Micro Power New Energy secure the next ticket to board?

In the public perception, the narrative of lithium batteries is almost monopolized by trillion-yuan giants in power batteries and energy storage batterieshundreds of billions in capacity and global competition form the main thread of this energy revolution. However, in the "micro" world that the giants have no time to attend to, a very different race is unfolding: the smaller the battery, the steeper the technical threshold, and the stronger the customer stickiness. Recently, the listing application submitted by Micro Power New Energy to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has precisely directed market attention to this long-underestimated yet astonishingly fast-growing niche battlefieldmicro lithium-ion batteries. This micro battery manufacturer, ranked second among Chinese suppliers and fourth globally, is trying to prove to the capital market that achieving excellence in an inconspicuous track can also support the fundamentals of a listed company. But when the story enters the income statement, what is the true quality of this industry player? New business layout accelerates, but growth still awaits mass production validation From an operating data perspective, Micro Power New Energy's growth over the past few years has strong characteristics of an industry cycle: from 2023 to 2025, the company achieved operating revenue of RMB 351 million, RMB 533 million, and RMB 565 million, respectively, with revenue growing 51.7% year-on-year in 2024, demonstrating strong volume expansion capability. In the first half of 2026, the company achieved operating revenue of RMB 337 million, up 18.0% year-on-year, maintaining rapid growth on a relatively high revenue base, indicating that demand fundamentals for its core business remain intact. Among these, smart wearable devices 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. In addition, revenue from the personal smart medical field increased from 8.1% in 2023 to 10.8% in 2025, and further reached 11.9% in the first half of 2026. At the same time, the company's development service revenue was RMB 12.3 million, while in the first half of 2026 it already reached RMB 38.07 million, accounting for 11.3% of revenue for the same period, a significant year-on-year increase of 612.8%. This means the company is gradually adding R&D, design, and joint development service capabilities around customers' new products, moving beyond simply selling battery products in the past. The significance of this change is not entirely reflected in the revenue scale of development services itself. For micro battery companies, customer participation in battery solution development during the new product design stage means suppliers can intervene earlier in product definition, forming collaboration with customers in areas such as battery dimensions, structure, material systems, and manufacturing processes. Once related products enter mass production, the early-stage R&D relationship may further stable battery orders. Therefore, development services are more like an "entry point" into the supply chain for new products, and their commercial value may exceed the current revenue contribution itself. From a profitability perspective, the company's performance in 2024 was particularly outstanding. Gross profit increased from RMB 102 million in 2023 to RMB 186 million, with gross margin rising from 29.0% to 35.0%. Taking wearable device batteries as an example, through process improvements and scaled production, the company reduced unit cost from RMB 3.3 to RMB 2.8, while average selling price decreased from RMB 4.6 to RMB 4.2. Despite the price decline, the gross margin for this product still increased from 28.3% to 32.6%. In 2025, the company's gross margin fell back to 32.0%, mainly affected by changes in wearable device battery selling prices, increases in certain raw material prices, changes in export tax rebate policies, and increased fixed costs during the capacity expansion phase. However, based on performance in the first half of 2026, the company's gross margin has already recovered to 32.7%, with net profit growing 12.1% year-on-year to RMB 26.3 million. At the same time, the company is seeking new demand increments. It is understood that as of the end of June 2026, the company has begun mass production of ultra-thin curved batteries for smart rings and expects 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 expected order volume of approximately 10 million units, projected to enter large-scale production and delivery starting from 2027. The company is also actively expanding into applications such as drones, smart action cameras, Siasun Robot&Automation, and high-power stacked batteries. It is worth noting that the common feature of these new scenarios is that they impose different requirements on batteries compared to traditional TWS products. For example, smart rings place greater emphasis on battery thickness and curved form, AI terminals may require higher instantaneous power and longer battery life, while devices such as Siasun Robot&Automation and drones may further raise requirements for energy density, rate performance, and safety. For Micro Power New Energy, this represents both an expansion of market space and an opportunity to upgrade its technical capabilities from "mature product scale manufacturing" to "multi-specification customized battery solutions." When competition shifts from cost to technology, how far can Micro Power New Energy go? If TWS and smart wearables constitute Micro Power New Energy's current fundamentals, then R&D capability and customer collaboration determine whether this company can truly open a second growth curve. According to the prospectus, the company continues to increase R&D investment. R&D expenses were approximately RMB 54.3 million in 2024 and further increased to RMB 93.5 million in 2025, up 72.1% year-on-year. The number of R&D personnel also increased from 235 in 2024 to 411 in 2025, with R&D focused on directions including miniaturization, high energy density, safety, fast charging, and cycle life. The importance of such investment for micro battery companies lies in the fact that customers' new products often do not have fully standardized battery specifications. Especially for new terminals such as smart rings, AI toys, and Siasun Robot&Automation, product forms and internal spaces vary greatly, and batteries often need to be customized according to terminal structure. Therefore, companies that can quickly complete cell design, structural adjustment, material matching, process development, and mass production introduction are more likely to secure orders during customers' new product cycles. It is understood that Micro Power New Energy's technical accumulation in certain products has begun to migrate to new applications. For example, the company continues to invest in button cell structure, safety design, and fast charging technology. Some products support 8C to 10C charging rates and can achieve charging from fully discharged state to 80% in approximately 6 minutes. At the same time, the company is also advancing solid-state and semi-solid-state battery technology and achieved commercialization of micro solid-state batteries in 2024. Although these new technologies ultimately still need to pass customer validation and large-scale mass production testing, from an industry logic perspective, the company's continuous reserve of cutting-edge technology helps improve its ability to respond to demand changes in next-generation terminal products. Another noteworthy change is the customer structure. The company's revenue from end customers decreased from 93.6% in 2023 to 89.7% in 2025, and further fell to 85.7% in the first half of 2026. The revenue share of the top five customers also decreased from 51.7% in 2023 to 43.3% in the first half of 2026, while the largest single customer's revenue share dropped from 21.0% to 12.7%. The gradual decline in customer concentration means the company is expanding its customer coverage, providing a better foundation for continuous volume growth of new products and applications in the future. At the same time, the company's operating cash flow performance has also improved. From 2023 to 2025, net cash flows from operating activities were approximately RMB 32.3 million, RMB 84.93 million, and RMB 188 million, respectively. As of the end of June 2026, cash and cash equivalents were approximately RMB 271 million, with bank borrowings of approximately RMB 64 million. Overall, the company already possesses a certain degree of self-sustaining capability, which is particularly important for a manufacturing enterprise in a phase of continuous capacity expansion and R&D investment. From an industry competition perspective, the global consumer-grade micro lithium-ion battery market is not an easy track to enter. Customer certification cycles, product consistency, yield rates, delivery capability, and cost control capability all affect suppliers' long-term competitive position. Micro Power New Energy's ability to enter the global top-tier consumer electronics supply chain and achieve a high market ranking in the wireless earphone micro battery segment indicates that the company already possesses certain manufacturing and customer service capabilities. What is truly worth observing in the future is whether these capabilities can be further replicated into incremental markets such as smart rings, AI terminals, Siasun Robot&Automation, and drones. Therefore, the investment logic for Micro Power New Energy is not merely "growth in the micro battery industry," but a more specific industrial upgrading logic: establishing scale and customer base through TWS and smart wearables, entering new products through R&D and joint development capabilities, and then achieving order conversion through mass production. If new applications such as smart rings, AI toys, Siasun Robot&Automation, and drones can gradually scale up according to the prospectus plan, the company's revenue structure is expected to further diversify, and its growth space will extend from the mature consumer electronics market to a new round of the intelligent terminal industry chain. Currently, the company's new businesses are still in the continuous introduction phase, and the ultimate contribution still depends on the launch pace of customer products, order fulfillment, and mass production efficiency. In the future, the core of judging this company's value will gradually shift from "how much more can existing businesses grow" to "how much increment can new products contribute." If businesses such as smart rings, AI terminals, and high-power batteries can smoothly enter the scale-up phase, Micro Power New Energy is expected to further open new growth space while consolidating its traditional consumer electronics battery business. At that point, whether the company can complete the leap from "micro battery manufacturer" to "new intelligent terminal battery solution provider" will become the key to observing its long-term growth potential.