2025 Profits Quadrupled, Bawei Storage Continues to Accelerate at Year Start

In the first quarter of 2026, storage chips experienced the fastest price increases in the entire semiconductor industry. According to Qunzhi Consulting, consumer electronics storage prices rose over 60% quarter-over-quarter, with NAND increasing by more than 70%.

Samsung, OPPO, vivo, and other phone manufacturers have launched their largest round of price adjustments in nearly five years, directly driven by procurement costs for storage chips rising over 80% compared to the same period last year.

On March 17, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won offered a longer-term outlook at NVIDIA’s GTC conference: global storage chip shortages may persist until 2030.

The root cause of the price hikes is AI.

Over 80% of the advanced capacity at leading global storage manufacturers has shifted to HBM high-bandwidth memory to prioritize AI server demands, significantly reducing capacity available for consumer-grade DRAM and NAND Flash.

During this cycle, not only upstream companies like Samsung and SK Hynix are profiting, but midstream independent storage solution providers are also benefiting significantly.

Baiwei Storage (688525.SH) is one of them.

On the evening of March 19, Baiwei Storage disclosed its 2025 annual report. Last year, the company achieved revenue of 11.302 billion yuan, up 68.82% year-over-year, with net profit attributable to shareholders of 853 million yuan, up 429.07%. Excluding non-recurring gains and losses, net profit was 785 million yuan, a 1072.25% increase.

Profit growth far outpaced revenue growth, with Baiwei Storage’s full-year performance showing a pattern of initial decline followed by a surge.

In the first half of 2025, storage prices faced downward pressure. According to TrendForce, NAND Flash contract prices decreased by about 15%–20% quarter-over-quarter, and DRAM prices fell by about 8%–13%.

By the fourth quarter of 2025, driven by AI demand, the global storage market entered a high boom period, with NAND rising 33%–38% quarter-over-quarter and DRAM increasing 45%–50%.

In the first half of 2025, Baiwei Storage actively managed inventory. After accurately assessing trends in the second half, the company strategically stocked up, ultimately achieving record-high revenue and profit in the fourth quarter.

Baiwei Storage’s 2025 performance report shows that in the fourth quarter, net profit attributable to shareholders exceeded 800 million yuan, with a year-over-year increase of 1329.94%.

Entering 2026, the upward trend in storage chip prices continues.

Baiwei Storage’s earnings forecast indicates that from January to February 2026, revenue is expected to reach 4 to 4.5 billion yuan, a year-over-year increase of 340%–395%; net profit attributable to shareholders is projected at 1.5 to 1.8 billion yuan.

In just the first two months of 2026, Baiwei Storage’s profits have already surpassed its total for all of 2025.

From AI glasses to servers, which end devices are Baiwei Storage’s clients covering?

The explosive growth in Baiwei Storage’s 2025 performance mainly occurred in the second half.

Since Q3 2025, AI applications have accelerated their penetration, reversing the supply-demand pattern in the global storage market. In November 2025, SanDisk announced a 50% increase in NAND flash contract prices.

Thanks to strategic inventory buildup in the second half, Baiwei Storage ensured rapid growth and stable delivery in Q4.

Looking at the full-year growth structure, the fastest-growing segment is AI emerging end-side storage.

According to the company’s performance report, in 2025, AI emerging end-side storage product revenue was about 1.751 billion yuan, with AI glasses storage revenue around 960 million yuan.

Currently, the company’s ePOP series products have entered the supply chains of domestic and international companies such as Meta, Google, Alibaba, Xiaomi, Tmall Genie, Rokid, Thunder Bird Innovation, and others, used in AI/AR glasses and smart wearables.

ePOP is a storage product that stacks DRAM and NAND in a System-on-Chip (SoC) package, making it smaller and thinner, specifically designed for space-constrained devices like AI/AR glasses and smartwatches.

Baiwei Storage states in its performance report that as AI glasses volume increases in 2026, cooperation with key clients like Meta will deepen, driving sustained growth in related businesses. The AI emerging end-side storage revenue in 2025 was about 1.751 billion yuan, and this market is still rapidly expanding.

Beyond AI glasses and wearables, Baiwei Storage is also continuously expanding its customer base in smartphones, PCs, automotive, and enterprise sectors.

In smartphones, its products are now part of the supply chains for OPPO, VIVO, Honor, Transsion, Motorola, ZTE, TCL, and others. In Q1 2026, global storage chip procurement costs surged significantly compared to the same period last year, prompting brands like Samsung, OPPO, and vivo to initiate new price adjustments, tightening the supply chain relationship between storage suppliers and phone manufacturers.

In PCs, the company’s SSD products are supplied to Lenovo, Xiaomi, Acer, HP, Asus, and other domestic and international brands, making it a main supplier of SSDs in the domestic PC market.

In automotive, the company’s automotive-grade storage products have been delivered in volume to several major domestic OEMs and key Tier 1 suppliers. Currently, they are advancing validation for new high-bandwidth, high-capacity automotive-grade products like UFS and BGA SSDs, suitable for intelligent cockpits and autonomous driving scenarios.

In enterprise, the company’s PCIe SSD and SATA SSD products are supplied in bulk to top OEMs, AI server manufacturers, and leading internet companies.

Another factor supporting customer expansion is self-developed main control chips.

According to public information, Baiwei Storage’s first domestically developed eMMC main control chip, SP1800, has entered mass production, with deliveries in wearables, smartphones, and automotive sectors. In the automotive field, SP1800 passed the first batch of automotive chip certification reviews by the State Administration for Market Regulation, making it one of only two storage companies to be included on this whitelist.

Additionally, Baiwei Storage is developing UFS main control chips targeting AI smartphones, AI wearables, and autonomous driving, with design specifications meeting expectations.

In 2025, Baiwei Storage’s R&D expenses reached 631 million yuan, up 41.02%. By the end of the year, the company held 521 patents domestically and internationally, including 217 invention patents, with 128 new invention patent applications filed during the year. Baiwei Storage’s Mini SSD product was listed among Time magazine’s 2025 Best Inventions, the only storage product on the list worldwide.

How long can the storage price increase cycle last? What has Baiwei prepared in Songshan Lake?

Top global storage manufacturers Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron have shifted over 80% of their advanced capacity to HBM high-bandwidth memory.

HBM offers higher profits, motivating manufacturers to prioritize this capacity, at the expense of consumer-grade DRAM and NAND Flash supplies being significantly compressed.

Kioxia has confirmed that its NAND flash capacity will be fully sold out in 2026, with supply shortages expected to last at least until 2027.

TrendForce predicts that in Q1 2026, general DRAM prices will continue to rise by 55%–60%, and NAND by 33%–38%. Additionally, Samsung’s largest union is currently pushing for a strike vote; if an 18-day strike is implemented in May, it could impact about half of the Pyeongtaek plant’s capacity.

SK Hynix has profited handsomely from products like HBM during this cycle and has become one of the most profitable storage companies globally.

Many industry experts believe this price increase cycle is still in its early stages. Chey Tae-won, SK Group Chairman, provided a longer-term outlook: shortages could last until 2030.

In this context, Baiwei Storage has taken two steps to ensure supply.

First, it continues to sign long-term supply agreements (LTAs) with major global wafer manufacturers to lock in capacity. Second, it strategically stockpiled in the second half of 2025, with sufficient inventory by year-end, effectively ensuring stable subsequent deliveries.

A noteworthy detail is that key North American clients actively communicated with manufacturers to help Baiwei Storage prioritize capacity support during global shortages. This reverse support from major clients to lock upstream capacity is uncommon in the storage industry and reflects Baiwei’s strong position in AI end-side storage.

Beyond profit improvements from the price cycle, Baiwei Storage is also preparing another project: an advanced wafer-level packaging and testing facility in Songshan Lake, Dongguan.

According to Frost & Sullivan, Baiwei Storage is the only independent storage solution provider worldwide with wafer-level packaging and testing capabilities.

This capability allows Baiwei to provide both storage products and wafer-level advanced packaging and testing services, offering a one-stop integrated solution that significantly enhances value compared to providing only storage or testing services separately.

Public information indicates that the wafer-level advanced packaging and testing project includes two main product lines.

The FOMS series targets advanced storage chips, with ultra-thin LPDDR products based on FOMS-R process already used in AI smartphones to meet high-capacity, low-power storage needs.

The CMC series focuses on compute-storage integration, supporting “2+8” solutions that can support 3.1 to 3.2 times the mask size, used to connect computing chips with large-capacity storage in edge computing scenarios like AI end devices, embodied intelligence, and autonomous driving.

Although the wafer-level advanced packaging and testing project has not yet begun generating revenue, the existing storage product business continues to accelerate growth.

The company’s performance forecast released on March 4 indicates that in January–February 2026, revenue is expected to reach 4–4.5 billion yuan, with net profit of 1.5–1.8 billion yuan.

If the wafer-level advanced packaging and testing project progresses smoothly, it could start contributing revenue by the end of this year, adding a new income stream beyond existing storage solutions.

For a company that just crossed the 10-billion-yuan revenue mark, running two growth engines simultaneously will further open up growth potential.