As breakthrough technologies such as AI, embodied intelligence, commercial spaceflight, quantum computing, and controlled nuclear fusion continue to advance, companies willing to make bold R&D bets and venture into uncharted territory are converting technological dividends into lasting competitiveness that withstands market cycles. On August 28, Legend Holdings (03396) delivered a powerful demonstration of this principle, reporting robust growth in both revenue and profit in its 2026 interim results.  The company's revenue climbed 29% year-on-year to RMB 362.935 billion, while net profit attributable to shareholders surged 219% to RMB 2.230 billion.  Excluding one-off items, attributable net profit jumped an extraordinary 834% to RMB 5.812 billion.  The company's cash reserves also strengthened further, reaching RMB 79.474 billion.  The all-around growth across business metrics signals that the company's deep-rooted investments in the tech innovation arena are steadily translating into tangible earnings expansion.

R&D Spending Hits Record Half-Year High of RMB 10 Billion, Bolstering Market Leadership

Legend Holdings has consistently adhered to an innovation-driven long-term strategy, a key pillar that enabled steady profit growth amid multiple challenges in the first half and underpins its ability to thrive across economic cycles.  During the reporting period, the company's total R&D investment reached RMB 10 billion, a half-year record and an 18% increase year-on-year.  This intensive R&D spending has proven crucial in helping its industrial segments cement their market-leading positions.  Notably, all three core businesses of Lenovo Group achieved double-digit revenue growth and each set new historical highs.  The PC business captured a 24.2% global market share, extending its leadership gap for ten consecutive quarters.  The infrastructure solutions business saw revenue jump 62%, with AI server order backlog reaching a substantial USD 54 billion.  Both cloud infrastructure and enterprise infrastructure segments recorded rapid revenue growth, with operating margin improving to 6.9%.  AI-related revenue grew 64% year-on-year, now representing 36% of total revenue.  Meanwhile, Levima Advanced Materials achieved multiple R&D breakthroughs, with two core technologies included in national key R&D programs, 14 EOD projects completing laboratory development, and six projects reaching industrialization.  The company operates two globally leading EVA production lines, and its 50,000-tonne-per-year PPC facility, the largest single-train PPC plant globally, commenced operations in May 2026.  A 100,000-tonne-per-year POE line has also entered trial production.  Additionally, XDI and PEEK projects are advancing rapidly, with both slated for production commencement in 2027.

Twelve Tech-Backed Companies Go Public, Marking a Harvest Period for Sci-Tech Investments

While the RMB 10 billion R&D push has solidified the industrial segment's market leadership, Legend Holdings' investment arm also reaped substantial rewards from its focused strategy on sci-tech innovation and national technological self-reliance during the first half.  The group successfully facilitated the listing of 12 companies across its ecosystem in H1, retaining its top position among venture capital firms in direct investments.  These listings include AI pioneers Zhipu AI (02513) and Haizhi Technology (02706); high-end manufacturing players Top Numerical Control (07688) and Laifu Harmonic (03952); semiconductor firms Hengyunchang (688785.SH), Axera Semiconductor (00600), and SJ Semiconductor (688820.SH); and healthcare/biotech companies Edge Medical (02675), Raybone Biotech (06938), and Tianxing Medical (01609).  Since the half-year mark, the company has already pushed through listings for EasyControl Intelligent Driving (07687), the world's first listed mining unmanned vehicle company, and DRAM leader CXMT (688825.SH).  Furthermore, over 30 companies within its portfolio are currently in the IPO pipeline, including well-known names such as LandSpace, Kunlunxin, Sipmic Semiconductor, Hai Robotics, and Core Medical.  As portfolio companies enter their harvest phase, Legend Holdings' persistent innovation efforts continue to provide a steady stream of new opportunities.  The company reported adding investments in over 80 Chinese tech startups during H1 2026, spanning strategic emerging sectors including AI, optical interconnection, quantum technology, embodied intelligence, new materials, smart healthcare, commercial spaceflight, and low-altitude economy.

Systematic Positioning in Frontier Technologies, Exploring New Commercialization Models

The impressive performance of Legend Holdings is closely tied to the nation's intensifying policy support for technological innovation.  As China enters its 15th Five-Year Plan period, the national strategy explicitly emphasizes accelerating high-level technological self-reliance to guide the development of new quality productive forces.  The plan focuses on cultivating six emerging pillar industries while forward-deploying six future industries.  In these domains, Legend Holdings has established a systematic footprint built up over many years, a fact reflected in its interim results.  Within the AI sector, the company has built a five-layer deep architecture spanning infrastructure, technology, models, platforms, and applications, having invested in over 300 AI companies.  This makes it one of the most comprehensive, extensive, and long-standing investors in the AI space.  In embodied intelligence, Legend Holdings has invested in over 50 companies, creating a full-chain coverage from core components, models, and data to robot bodies and industry applications.  In the medical and pharmaceutical sector, the company manages over 110 portfolio companies, including 25 biopharmaceutical firms, 17 medical device makers, and nearly 70 smart healthcare enterprises, spanning frontier areas such as brain-computer interfaces, cell therapy, surgical robots, in-vitro diagnostics, AI-assisted diagnostics, and innovative drugs.  In commercial spaceflight, investments exceed 10 companies, building a complete industrial chain from rocket manufacturing, satellite platforms, payload remote sensing, and satellite communications to space-based computing and sensing capabilities, with major players like LandSpace and GalaxySpace among its portfolio.  In the controlled nuclear fusion arena, Legend Holdings has invested in six companies, including Nova Fusion, Xingshuan Energy, and Andun Fusion, establishing a multi-technology pathway approach covering field-reversed configuration, stellarators, spherical tokamaks, laser inertial confinement, Z-pinch, and hydrogen-boron fusion.  Beyond investing in frontier tech enterprises, the company is also turning its attention toward earlier-stage academic research that has not yet achieved commercialization, exploring industry-academia-research collaboration models.  The aim is to lead with industrial needs and work alongside the scientific community to co-develop solutions from the initial R&D phase.  During the reporting period, Legend Holdings partnered with Peking University to establish a joint laboratory for advanced photonic integration technology, working with research teams on co-authored publications, joint patent applications, and operational preparations for commercialization.  It also took a leading role in establishing the Industry-Academia-Research Working Committee under the Chinese Information Processing Society of China, focusing on AI frontier directions, translating real industry demands, and promoting successful collaboration cases in Chinese information processing.  If such exploration models prove successful, they would provide Legend Holdings with significant first-mover advantages in these fields.

Summary

With the implementation of the 15th Five-Year Plan and the national strategy to accelerate technological self-reliance and develop new quality productive forces, the long-standing technology investments of Legend Holdings have clearly begun to yield value this year.  Yet, the impact of technology on a company extends far beyond a one-time earnings highlight.  The company's persistent focus on innovation and its willingness to invest in earlier-stage frontier technologies will determine its ability to sustain and expand value creation over the longer term.