Cambricon Q3 Sales Double to 3.53B Yuan, Below Estimates

Cambricon, the Chinese designer of AI chips, reported third-quarter revenue of 3.53 billion yuan, up 104.47% from a year earlier, in its 2026 third-quarter report filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange on 23 October 2026. Bloomberg reported that estimates were for about 6.26 billion yuan, and wrote that the slower-than-expected growth reflected “its persistent challenges with manufacturing constraints and memory chip shortages.”

In plain words, Cambricon designs the accelerator chips that Chinese data centres use to run AI models; US export controls restrict sales of the most advanced AI chips to China, so domestic designers such as Cambricon compete for that demand. By our arithmetic, the reported revenue was about 56% of the estimate Bloomberg cited.

Business Pill · GPUS EXPLAINED

A short Business Engineer explainer on why AI runs on accelerator chips. It teaches the general idea only and says nothing about Cambricon.

What Cambricon Reported

• Revenue. Third-quarter revenue was 3,530,828,294.64 yuan, up 104.47% year on year, and revenue for the first nine months was 9,526,401,914.25 yuan, up 106.76%, according to the filing.
• Profit. Net profit attributable to shareholders was 1.40 billion yuan in the quarter, up 147.74%, and 3.71 billion yuan for the nine months, up 131.49%.
• Research. Research and development spending was 523 million yuan in the quarter, 14.80% of revenue.
• Cash flow. Operating cash flow was a net outflow of about 84 million yuan in the quarter and an inflow of about 228 million yuan for the nine months.
• The company’s explanation. The filing attributes the revenue growth mainly to the company continuing to expand its market and helping AI applications reach deployment. It does not mention supply or production constraints.

The Numbers by Quarter

Sources: Cambricon (中科寒武纪) 2026 first-quarter report and 2026 third-quarter report, filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange; estimate as reported by Bloomberg on 23 October 2026. Figures rounded to the nearest million yuan. Q2 2026, Q3 2025 and the quarter-on-quarter changes are our arithmetic from the filed figures.

By our arithmetic from the filings, revenue rose from about 2.88 billion yuan in the first quarter to about 3.11 billion yuan in the second and 3.53 billion yuan in the third, so the quarter-on-quarter gains were about 7.8% and 13.5%. The year-on-year rate fell from 159.56% in the first quarter to 104.47% in the third, as reported.

What the Balance Sheet Shows

Source: Cambricon 2026 third-quarter report, consolidated balance sheet (unaudited). Changes are our arithmetic.

Inventory rose to 11.66 billion yuan at 30 September from 4.94 billion yuan at the end of 2025, and prepayments rose to 3.04 billion yuan from 745 million yuan, according to the balance sheet. The filing does not say what the inventory or the prepayments consist of.

Connecting the Coverage

Our IDC piece reported that, after Nvidia and Huawei, IDC put Cambricon at 5% of China’s market for data-centre AI accelerators in the first half of 2026, according to Reuters. What’s new: Cambricon’s own quarterly revenue, and an estimate it missed.

Our DeepSeek piece reported that DeepSeek raised about 100 billion yuan in an equity round and Huawei secured a 15 billion yuan bank loan, according to Bloomberg reports of 22 October. Our export-filing piece reported that DeepSeek and MiniMax completed registration under China’s new pre-export filing rule for AI technology.

Our Gartner piece reported that Gartner says demand from data center systems has driven memory prices to more than double over the past 12 months. Our Solidigm piece reported SK hynix saying Solidigm’s existing facilities “have limited capacity to meet rising demand.” What’s new: Bloomberg ties Cambricon’s shortfall to memory chip shortages and manufacturing constraints.

The Structural Read

As we read it, growth slowed but did not stop: by our arithmetic from the filings, revenue rose about 13.5% from the second quarter, after about 7.8% the quarter before, while the year-on-year rate fell from 159.56% in the first quarter to 104.47% in the third.

As we read it, the balance sheet grew faster than sales: inventory rose 136% and prepayments about fourfold since the end of 2025, by our arithmetic, while the filing does not say what either line consists of.

As we read it, the explanation for the shortfall comes from Bloomberg, not the company: Bloomberg cites manufacturing constraints and memory chip shortages, and the filing attributes revenue growth to market expansion and AI applications reaching deployment.

Three Implications

FOR CHINESE AI BUYERS Bloomberg ties the shortfall to manufacturing constraints and memory chip shortages at China’s 5%-share accelerator maker, as IDC ranked it in the first half, according to Reuters.

FOR MEMORY SUPPLIERS Gartner says demand from data center systems has driven memory prices to more than double over the past 12 months.

FOR INVESTORS IN CHINESE AI CHIPS Cambricon’s nine-month net profit attributable to shareholders rose 131.49% to 3.71 billion yuan, according to the filing, alongside the revenue shortfall Bloomberg reported.

The Business Engineer Lens

This story maps onto the Business Engineer framework The AI Memory Chokepoint.

The framework argues that “the binding constraint on AI scaling has quietly shifted to High Bandwidth Memory (HBM).”

As we read it, Bloomberg’s explanation for Cambricon’s shortfall, memory chip shortages alongside manufacturing constraints, is the same constraint seen from the chip designer’s side. The framework was published in December 2025 and does not discuss Cambricon.

What Is Not Established

Bloomberg did not say, in the part of its report we could read, who compiled the 6.26 billion yuan estimate or how many analysts it covers. The filing is unaudited and does not discuss supply or production constraints; the link between the shortfall and manufacturing or memory shortages is Bloomberg’s reporting. The quarterly figures for Q2 2026 and Q3 2025 are our arithmetic. We did not contact Cambricon. Nothing here is investment advice.

The Bottom Line

Cambricon’s third-quarter revenue doubled to 3.53 billion yuan, according to its filing, which was about 56% of the 6.26 billion yuan estimate Bloomberg reported. Its inventory rose 136% and its prepayments about fourfold since the end of 2025, by our arithmetic on its balance sheet.