Intchains (ICG) H1 2026 Earnings Call: Neuer ASIC strebt Marktstart in Q4 an

Wichtigste Erkenntnisse

• Die Intchains Group Limited meldete für das erste Halbjahr 2026 einen Umsatz von 11,1 Millionen RMB, da die zyklische Nachfrage schwach blieb und im Februar angekündigte Vertriebsbeschränkungen für Mining-Geräte in der VR China das Geschäft beeinträchtigten.
• Die gesamten Betriebsausgaben beliefen sich auf 42 Millionen RMB. Der unverwässerte und verwässerte Nettoverlust pro Stammaktie lag bei 1,22 RMB.
• Die liquiden Mittel, Einlagen und Staatsanleihen beliefen sich zum Periodenende auf insgesamt 461 Millionen RMB, was es dem Unternehmen ermöglicht, sein Mining-ASIC-Programm der nächsten Generation intern zu finanzieren.
• Intchains schloss im Juli das Tape-Out seines Mining-ASIC der nächsten Generation ab. Das Management strebt den kommerziellen Marktstart für das vierte Quartal 2026 an, wobei im zweiten Halbjahr geringe Umsätze und im Geschäftsjahr 2027 ein bedeutenderer Beitrag erwartet werden.
• Das Unternehmen erzielte zum 30. Juni durch Restrukturierungen, die Veräußerung eines Nicht-Kerngeschäfts im Chipbereich und den verstärkten Einsatz KI-gestützter Tools annualisierte Personalkosteneinsparungen von rund 23,1 Millionen RMB.
• Der Verwaltungsrat genehmigte ein ADS-Rückkaufprogramm von bis zu 15 Millionen US-Dollar über zwei Jahre, das aus vorhandenen liquiden Mitteln finanziert wird.

Wichtigste Finanzdaten

Geschäfts- und Betriebsentwicklung

Der Mining-ASIC der nächsten Generation ging nach seinem Tape-Out im Juli von der Designfertigstellung in die Produktion über. Entwicklermuster und die Laborvalidierung sind im Gange; sie umfassen Leistungs-, Zuverlässigkeits- und Thermotests im Vergleich zu internen Benchmarks.

Vorbehaltlich einer erfolgreichen Validierung plant Intchains, den ersten Produktionshochlauf und die Integration auf Systemebene vor dem kommerziellen Marktstart im vierten Quartal 2026 über seine Serie Goldshell Miner zu beginnen. Der Chip nutzt ein ausgereiftes Verfahren und ist darauf ausgelegt, Effizienz, Zuverlässigkeit und Lieferfähigkeit für Privatanleger und professionelle Miner auszubalancieren.

Das Management geht davon aus, dass das neue Produkt den adressierbaren Gesamtmarkt des Unternehmens erweitert und künftige System- und Serviceangebote unterstützt. Es erwartet zudem, dass bestehende Produktlinien bei einer Erholung der Kryptomärkte einen Beitrag leisten werden, wobei darauf hingewiesen wurde, dass zusätzliche Wafer schnell nachbestellt werden könnten, da die Tape-Out-Arbeiten bereits abgeschlossen sind.

Intchains prüft darüber hinaus KI-bezogene Wachstumschancen, einschließlich potenzieller Übernahmen, die die Fähigkeiten im Bereich kundenspezifisches ASIC-Design und Hardware-Integration auf KI-gestütztes Computing ausweiten könnten. Diese Initiativen befinden sich noch in einem frühen Stadium.

Das Unternehmen gab an, dass zum 20. August 2026 insgesamt 4.556 ETH für Staking bereitgestellt waren. Dies umfasste 3.556 ETH, die über die Goldshell-Staking-Plattform eingezahlt wurden und auf die Aktivierung der Validierung warteten, sowie 1.000 ETH, die auf der Plattform Falcon X gestaket wurden.

Prognose des Managements

Das Management strebt den kommerziellen Marktstart des neuen Mining-ASIC für das vierte Quartal 2026 an. Es wird erwartet, dass das Produkt im zweiten Halbjahr 2026 geringfügige Umsätze generiert, gefolgt von einem bedeutenderen Beitrag im Geschäftsjahr 2027, wenn sich Serienproduktion und Kommerzialisierung beschleunigen.

Für 2027 erklärte das Management, dass es beim neuen Produkt Umsätze erwartet, die das Niveau des Zyklus von 2024 und 2025 übertreffen. Der CFO äußerte zudem die Ansicht, dass 2027 das stärkste Jahr des Unternehmens innerhalb eines Fünfjahreszeitraums werden könnte, obwohl keine quantitative Umsatzprognose vorgelegt wurde.

Intchains plant, die Maßnahmen zur Kostendisziplin im verbleibenden Verlauf des Jahres 2026 fortzusetzen. Das Unternehmen beabsichtigt, seine bestehenden ETH-Bestände zu bewahren und Staking-Erträge zu erwirtschaften, während verfügbare liquide Mittel priorisiert für Forschung und Entwicklung, den Betrieb von Mining-Geräten sowie KI-Initiativen anstelle von zusätzlichen ETH-Käufen eingesetzt werden.

Risiken und wichtige Einflussfaktoren

• Die Nachfrage nach Mining-Geräten blieb im ersten Halbjahr zyklisch schwach, während Vertriebsbeschränkungen in der VR China für zusätzlichen Gegenwind sorgten.
• Der ASIC-Marktstart im vierten Quartal hängt von der erfolgreichen Silicon-Validierung, Tests, dem Produktionshochlauf und der Systemintegration ab.
• Das Management beschrieb das aktuelle Kryptowährungsumfeld als Bärenmarkt. Ohne eine Erholung dürfte der neue ASIC der primäre Umsatztreiber sein.
• KI-Initiativen und potenzielle Übernahmen werden derzeit noch geprüft. Ihr zeitlicher Ablauf, der Kapitalbedarf und der potenzielle Umsatzbeitrag lassen sich derzeit noch nicht abschätzen.
• Der Ausblick des Unternehmens für 2027 hängt teilweise von der erfolgreichen Kommerzialisierung des neuen ASIC und bei Altprodukten von einer Erholung der Kryptowährungspreise und der Mining-Nachfrage ab.

Wichtigste Punkte aus der Analysten-Fragerunde

Zur Kapitalallokation erklärte das Management, dass das Unternehmen das Aktienrückkaufprogramm im Umfang von 15 Millionen US-Dollar aus vorhandenen liquiden Mitteln finanzieren wird, während die normalen Ausgaben für ASIC-Tape-Out, Vorräte und den Produktvertrieb fortgesetzt werden. Der Kapitalbedarf für etwaige KI-Projekte oder Übernahmen wird je nach Gelegenheit variieren und wurde bisher nicht quantifiziert.

Bezüglich der ETH-Bestände gab das Management an, dass derzeit kein Verkauf von ETH geplant sei. Die gegenwärtige Strategie besteht darin, aus dem Verkauf von Mining-Geräten erzielte Gewinne für potenzielle ETH-Käufe zu nutzen, anstatt zusätzliches vorhandenes Bargeld einzusetzen.

Zum Wettbewerb erklärte das Management, dass der Wettbewerb in Bezug auf die Kryptowährung, auf die der neue ASIC abzielt, nicht intensiv sei, und zeigte sich zuversichtlich, dass das Produkt eine führende Leistung erbringen werde. Das Unternehmen nannte die Kryptowährung während der Telefonkonferenz nicht.

Das Management rechnet damit, dass der neue ASIC bei anhaltender Schwäche der Kryptomärkte den Umsatz dominieren wird. Sollten sich die Preise von Dogecoin und Aleo erholen, könnten auch frühere Produktlinien wieder einen Beitrag leisten, da Intchains zusätzliche Wafer-Bestellungen bei seinem Fertigungspartner aufgeben kann.

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz zu den Ergebnissen

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz

Ausführungen des Managements

Operator

Thank you for standing by. My name is Priscilla, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the IC Group Limited First Half 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Alice Zhang with Equity Group. Please go ahead.

Alice Zhang

Thank you, operator. Good evening to everyone. Welcome to Intchains' First Half 2026 Earnings Conference Call. Please be advised that the discussions on today's call will include forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on the company's current expectations and projections regarding future events that may impact its financial condition, operating results and strategic direction.

Although the company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure you that such expectations will turn out to be correct, and the company cautions investors that actual results may differ materially from those anticipated results. Investors should review other factors that may affect its future results in the company's registration statement and other filings with the SEC. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances or changes in its expectations, except as required by law.

Please refer to the reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to the comparable GAAP measures in the earnings press release. The webcast replay of this conference call will be available on the Intchains' website at www.ir.inxen.com. It is my pleasure to introduce Ychen's CFO, Mr. Charles Yan, who will provide an overview of first half 2026 financial results and the company's business strategy and focus for the remainder of the year before opening the floor for questions. Charles, please go ahead.

Chaowei Yan

Thank you, Alice, and welcome, everyone. Let me start with a quick look at our first half 2026 results. The period reflected continued cyclical softness in outgoing demand, which was also impacted by the PRC mining machine sales restrictions announced in February. Revenue was RMB 11.1 million and total operating expenses were RMB 42 million with a basic and diluted net loss per ordinary share of RMB 1.22. We ended the period with RMB 461 million in cash and cash equivalents, deposits and government securities.

Our balance sheet that has allowed us to fund our next-generation chip program entirely from internal resources. Now turning into the remainder of 2026. Our progress on new product development and where we are taking the business from here. We entered this cycle with a deliberate choice, keep funding our next-generation mining ASIC development through a weaker demand environment so that we'll be ready with new products when the market turns, and that decision is now paying off.

In July, we successfully completed the tape-out of our new next-generation mining ASIC, a major technical milestone that keeps us on track for commercial launch in Q4 2026. This chip is architected specifically to optimize performance, balancing efficiency, reliability and supply availability using a mature process and is designed to improve unit economics and returns on invested capital for retail and professional miners.

The successful tape-out transitions the ASIC project from design completion to the start of the manufacturing process and sets the stage for silicon validation, followed by mass production and official commercial launch. With our capital and R&D intensive phase of this ASIC chip development now complete, the company has initiated engineering sample production and laboratory validation, including performance, reliability and thermal testing against internal benchmarks.

Subject to successful validation, Intchains expects to commence initial production ramp and system-level integration in advance of a planned commercial launch targeted for Q4. Once launched through the sales of our Goldshell Miner series, we believe it will broaden our addressable market across retail and professional miners, enhance the competitiveness of our hardware portfolio and unlock new revenue streams through future system and service offerings.

Looking into the second half, we believe we are moving quickly to capture the opportunities ahead. Our mining -- our new mining assets is expected to begin contributing a modest revenue in H2 2026, building a far more meaningful impact in fiscal 2027 as commercialization accelerates.

Longer term, we believe that this platform further strengthens our position as a leading active supplier of purpose-built mining ASIC systems, driving superior operational efficiency for our customers and advancing a more sustainable approach to proof-of-work infrastructure. It's a core part of our strategy to build a more resilient, diversified revenue base.

Beyond this new project, we are also in the early stages of evaluating new growth opportunities in artificial intelligence, including potential acquisitions that would extend our core competencies in custom ASIC design and hardware systems integration into AI-enabled computing applications. Our goal is to reduce reliance on cryptocurrency market cycles over time and to position Intchains in a higher-value computing market adjacent to our existing hardware expertise. This work is still in early stages, and we look forward to share more details as our plans develop.

On the cost side, we continued to make progress on our cost optimization efforts. As of June 30, 2026, we had realized approximately RMB 23.1 million in annualized labor cost savings through our organizational restructuring. The divestiture of our noncore chip-related business and expanded use of AI-enabled tools across our business operations. We expect to continue these cost disciplined initiatives throughout the remainder of the year. On our ETH treasury holdings, as of June 30, 2026, the fair value of our cryptocurrency assets, excluding stablecoins such as USDC and USDT was RMB 98.9 million, including approximately 9,176 ETH.

As of August 20, 2026, the company's total units of ETH stated were 4,556 with 3,556 ETH deposited through our Gold Shield staking platform pending validation activation and 1,000 ETH stakes on Falcon X platform. Going forward, we expect to maintain a prudent ETH treasury and staking position, preserving our existing treasury holdings and continue generating staking yields while prioritizing capital allocation towards our next-generation AI program and the new AI initiatives over additional ETH accumulation.

We also announced today that our Board of Directors had approved a share repurchase program, under which we may repurchase up to $15 million of our ADS over the next 2 years, funded from our existing cash balance. We believe that this program reflects our confidence in Intchains's long-term strategic direction and our commitment to creating value for shareholders. And it's consistent with our disciplined approach to capital allocation, balancing returns to shareholders with continued investment in our next-generation ASIC and new AI initiatives.

Looking ahead to second half of 2026, while we expect continued market headwinds, we will remain focused on disciplined execution, commercializing our new ASIC prioritizing cost optimization and advancing our evaluation of AI-related growth opportunities. We believe these initiatives will position Intchains for a more diversified and resilient business over the long term. With that, operator, let's open it up for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Mark Palmer with The Benchmark.

Fragen und Antworten

Mark Palmer

Just you announced the new share repurchase program and also discussed ongoing R&D activities as well as the potential for M&A, especially focused on AI and AI-driven businesses. Can you talk a bit about what your capital allocation priorities are? And more broadly, what your capital allocation strategy looks like going forward?

Chaowei Yan

Firstly, for the share repurchase program, we planned $15 million for the share repurchase program. And for the R&D or R&D in current asset, we will handle this as usual. We will do the tape-out and buy the inventory and then sell them. So the capital cost of the current business, it will be -- remain the same with our prior projects. And finally, for the AI initiatives and M&A, it will depend on -- it all depends on the project we engaged. Currently, we have several projects to assess and every project has a different capital requirement. So currently, for the AI part, we cannot give accurate estimation. Thank you.

Mark Palmer

Yes. And a follow-up question, please. Charles, you made reference to the fact that you're anticipating that there will be a pickup in the impact from the newly developed ASIC product in 2027.

Can you talk a bit about how you're currently thinking about 2027, particularly with regard to the diversification of revenue that you made reference to reducing reliance on crypto cycles? And also, what should we be watching for over the next few quarters in terms of milestones or signs of your progress?

Chaowei Yan

Firstly, our next milestone of the product is the product launch, it will be happening in Q4 2026. And it will contribute some revenue for the second half, but it will not be very big. But for the 2027, the whole product will be -- the whole mass production will be on track. So in 2027, our expectation is the revenue will be better than the last cycle. And last cycle, I mean, maybe 2025 and 2024.

So -- and this is our business basic. And in addition, for other revenue or other revenue base, we will continue to state ease and will contribute meaningful revenue compared with this year and last year. And finally, the AI initiatives, if it has some meaningful process, it will also contribute additional revenue. I think the -- in current stage, I think we cannot estimate the current figure of that part. But I believe the 2027 will be a good year or the best year among 5 years of the company.

Operator

And your next question comes from the line of Matthew Galinko with Maxim Group.

Matthew Galinko

Maybe firstly, can you -- just given the environment we've been in for crypto, can you discuss any changes you're seeing in competition in the ASIC design business?

Chaowei Yan

Currently, what I can say now is that our new next-generation ASIC, the foundation of this new cryptocurrency is very good and the competition of this new cryptocurrency is not intense. We may not the first one entering into that area, but we believe that our products have a leading performance among all competitors. And I think we are very confident on this new asset or new mining machine for the for this new co and for 2027.

And on the other hand, I think the crypto environment currently, it has some soft demand issues. And now I think for the second half and next year, the market will recover and together with our business and our revenue and the ETH price. This is all our company -- all our company's business, yes.

Matthew Galinko

Great. And I guess as a follow-up to drill a little bit more into the capital allocation decisions. How do you view your ETH Treasury holdings in respect to other investment opportunities, including M&A, additional ASIC development if you see opportunities? Is the are treasury holdings potentially convertible into cash for M&A or other initiatives if it suits? Or do you intend to hold that as a fixed asset and not really consider it as part of the -- any kind of spend?

Chaowei Yan

I think we will not sell ETH firstly. And -- but we're using our own fund to buy ETH. So if we did not generate operating cash, it's difficult for us to pay, pay more money on it. So our current strategy is to sell mining machine and obtain profit and use that profit to buy the ETH.

So for the capital allocation, if we will not use the -- we will not further use current cash to buy ETH, but but this is our current strategy. I cannot ensure we will -- if we will change in the future. But currently, we are using this strategy. Our current cash will used in R&D, mining machine sales, current business and AI initiatives. Thank you.

Matthew Galinko

And maybe last question for me. In addition to the new machine that you're rolling out in Q4 and you expect to contribute to 27. Do you expect any -- if we get a recovery in the crypto market, do you expect to have decent contribution from other products in your portfolio? Or do you think that 27% is going to be just predominantly driven by the new launch?

Chaowei Yan

I think if the, currently -- if the -- now currently, cryptocurrency is in the bear market. So if the market did not recover, if the market did not recover, I think we can -- our main product is this new product -- our main revenue will come from -- contributed by this new product.

But if the market recovers, the all the price, the Dogecoin price, the Aleo coin price recover, then we will have another other contributions from the prior product line because we have finished the tape-out. So it's very quick for us to order more wafer from our fab.

Operator

And I'm showing no further questions at this time. I would like to turn it back to Charles Yan for closing remarks.

Chaowei Yan

Yes. Thanks again to all of you for joining us. We are always open to a dialogue with investors. Please feel free to reach out to us or to our Investor Relations firm, -- the Equity Group for any additional questions. We look forward to speaking with you all again on our next call. Thank you.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.