{"id":185192,"date":"2025-11-18T15:44:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T15:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/from-struggling-company-to-68-billion-how-cambricons-unexpected-partner-the-us-revived-its-fortune\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T15:44:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T15:44:15","slug":"from-struggling-company-to-68-billion-how-cambricons-unexpected-partner-the-us-revived-its-fortune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/from-struggling-company-to-68-billion-how-cambricons-unexpected-partner-the-us-revived-its-fortune\/","title":{"rendered":"From Struggling Company to $68 Billion: How Cambricon&#8217;s Unexpected Partner, the US, Revived Its Fortune"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div>\n<h2>The Meteoric Rise of Cambricon Technologies<\/h2>\n<p>Chen Tianshi has multiplied his fortune by more than twelve in two years, reaching <a rel=\"noopener, noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2025-11-16\/us-sanctions-propel-chinese-ai-prodigy-to-23-billion-fortune\" target=\"_blank\">22.5 billion dollars<\/a>. His company, Cambricon Technologies, has seen its shares soar 765% in just 24 months alongside a staggering revenue increase of over 500% last year.<\/p>\n<h3>The Importance of Strategic Protectionism<\/h3>\n<p>Cambricon&#8217;s rise is more a tale of strategic protectionism than of disruptive innovation. It encapsulates how US technology sanctions have inadvertently become a crucial ally for some Chinese firms.<\/p>\n<h3>The Context of Cambricon&#8217;s Transformation<\/h3>\n<p>In 2019, Cambricon heavily relied on Huawei for over 95% of its business until Huawei abruptly terminated all contracts, putting the company on the brink of collapse. Then came the US restrictions in 2023 and 2024 that cut off access to NVIDIA chips for Chinese firms.<\/p>\n<p>In response, the Chinese government mandated that companies purchase domestically. As a result, <a rel=\"noopener, noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/techbuzzchina.substack.com\/p\/cambricon-chinas-nvidiaor-nvidia\" target=\"_blank\">Cambricon evolved from a struggling startup to a national champion<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>The Changing Market Dynamics<\/h3>\n<p>This situation highlights the difference between competing in a free market versus thriving in a protected one. While Cambricon\u2019s Siyuan 590 chip is technically inferior to NVIDIA\u2019s A100, the limited availability of alternatives means that the company doesn&#8217;t need to outperform; it merely needs to be available.<\/p>\n<p>With a stockpile of 2.76 billion yuan ($380 million), the company\u2019s inventory has transformed from a potential liability to a bargaining chip. Some customers even pay up to 30% more for the immediate delivery of Cambricon&#8217;s products.<\/p>\n<h3>The Risks of Overvaluation<\/h3>\n<p>Despite rapid growth, analysts are cautious about the sustainability of Cambricon&#8217;s valuation. Some argue that this explosive growth is rooted in a low base and may be artificially inflated without ongoing political support. Shen Meng, a director at Chanson &#038; Co., pointedly states that &#8220;Cambricon\u2019s current valuation may be inflated,&#8221; raising concerns among investors.<\/p>\n<p>While Cambricon&#8217;s chips excel at inference tasks (predicting outcomes), they fall short in scalability for model training\u2014an area where NVIDIA maintains a substantial edge due to its established ecosystem with CUDA technology.<\/p>\n<h3>The Market Dynamics and Future Concerns<\/h3>\n<p>As it stands, Cambricon&#8217;s market capitalization sits at 558 billion yuan (about $68 billion), yet it only generates 1.6% of Intel&#8217;s revenue. Investors seem less focused on fundamentals and more on the prospects of nationalistic fervor.<\/p>\n<p>In August, amid soaring stocks, Cambricon issued a warning about its trading price deviating significantly from its fundamental value, advising investors of potential risks. This cautionary note from the company should not be overlooked.<\/p>\n<h3>The Impact of Technological Warfare<\/h3>\n<p>The rapid ascension of Cambricon illustrates that US technological sanctions are not merely hampering China but are instead reshaping its tech landscape. This situation has given rise to a new class of state-aligned tech elites, replacing previous private sector giants.<\/p>\n<p>While the US has successfully severed China\u2019s access to advanced chips, it has inadvertently handed over captive markets to firms like Cambricon, leading to a semiconductor industry in China that, while technically weaker, has become more reliant on government support. In this environment, political favor\u2014not free-market forces\u2014determines who thrives.<\/p>\n<h3>The Big Question Ahead<\/h3>\n<p>If ever-protective measures weaken, what will become of companies like Cambricon? The company recorded its first quarterly profit in Q4 2024, a commendable feat, yet its future growth hinges on continued government support and a lack of viable alternatives.<\/p>\n<p>Should US sanctions ease, or if domestic competitors like Huawei regain their footing, the rapid ascent of Cambricon could stall. Chen Tianshi\u2019s fortune, which is firmly rooted in the political arena, faces the uncertainty typical of volatile tech foundations.<\/p>\n<p>In closing, the evolution of Cambricon serves as a significant case study, illustrating the complexities of geopolitical dynamics and their unmistakable influence on technological competition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/category\/general\/\" rel=\"dofollow\">General News &#8211; 2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Meteoric Rise of Cambricon Technologies Chen Tianshi has multiplied his fortune by more than twelve in two years, reaching 22.5 billion dollars. His company, Cambricon Technologies, has seen its shares soar 765% in just 24 months alongside a staggering revenue increase of over 500% last year. The Importance of Strategic Protectionism Cambricon&#8217;s rise is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":178691,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36399],"tags":[377,45445,541,4267,7274,9808,3294,3459],"class_list":["post-185192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-billion","tag-cambricons","tag-company","tag-fortune","tag-partner","tag-revived","tag-struggling","tag-unexpected"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}