Globalization and AI two-wheel drive, Chizicheng Technology (09911) H1 revenue pre-increased by more than 34%

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on July 22, Chizicheng Technology (09911) announced unaudited operating data for the 2026 semi-year. For the half year ending June 30, 2026, the company expects to record revenue of approximately US$595 million to US$615 million, an increase of about 34.3% to 38.8% year-on-year, continuing the strong growth trend. Among them, revenue from social services is expected to be about US$530 million to US$545 million, up about 34.2% to 38.0% year on year; revenue from innovative business is about US$65 million to US$70 million, up 35.4% to 45.8% year on year. For the first time, the US dollar was used as the presentation currency for the first time in this operating data announcement.

Rapid growth in social networking services, global breakthroughs in flagship products

According to the announcement, social business revenue continues to grow, mainly due to the company's continued promotion of global layout and full-link application of AI, driving the steady growth of flagship products. Since this year, the company has continued to expand its global footprint around its core social networking business, maintaining a leading position in markets such as the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia. At the same time, it has continued to gain strength in high-growth, high-value new markets such as Latin America, Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United States, and has remained at the forefront of the global social entertainment industry.

The company's flagship products have made positive progress in expanding into new markets. Based on point data, the social networking platform SUGO remained at the top of the social app bestseller list in the Latin American market in the first half of the year. SUGO ranked 14th in Sensor Tower's “Overseas Revenue Ranking for Non-Gaming Apps in China” in the second quarter, and its global competitiveness continues to stand out. Currently, as a “dark horse” in the social networking industry, SUGO is emerging as a social platform with both global influence and efficient commercialization potential.

TopTop continues to take advantage of UGC's ecological advantages. Not only has it grown into a “national application” in GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) markets such as Saudi Arabia, but it also ranks among the top products in the world. With continuously improving product capabilities and deepening local operations, TopTop has made remarkable progress in high-value markets such as Japan and Europe. Based on data, it entered the top 10 free iOS casual games in Japan several times in the first half of this year.

In addition, the company's social networking business for diverse groups is also growing steadily. HeeSay, a global multi-community community, has steadily deepened its influence in Southeast Asia, a dominant market, and is in the top 10 best-selling iOS social apps in countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines.

The agency recently released a research report stating that the core moat of Chizicheng Technology lies in extremely localized heavy operational barriers, a business model centered on social payments, and risk diversification through a bush product matrix. These three constitute differentiated advantages that are difficult for industry competitors to replicate in the short term.

AI capabilities continue to improve, and innovative business momentum is strong

The innovative business showed strong development momentum in the first half of this year, mainly due to the rapid growth of the short drama business that the company actively invested in, driven by AI.

In the first half of the year, the company's skit business progressed in an orderly manner, covering many global markets such as Europe and America, and continued to accelerate the application of AI technology in skit production. The short drama product Playlet continues to expand in high-value markets such as the US, Japan, and South Korea, and the number of users has increased dramatically. Since this year, Playlet has joined Seedance 2.0, becoming one of the first cooperative platforms. According to the first-quarter installment report for short dramas released by TikTok, the company's top drama ranked 2nd in terms of the first-month split scale for single dramas on the platform. Superimposed AI has greatly improved skit production efficiency, and the company is expected to use localized operation and delivery capabilities to seize opportunities and further enrich the social entertainment content ecosystem.

In addition, the company's other innovative businesses have continued to grow steadily. The boutique game business is developing steadily. Flagship games maintain long-term operation and profit recovery, contribute stable profits to the company, and commercialization of new games is progressing smoothly; the social e-commerce business continues to deeply cultivate professional fields, continuously optimize products and service capabilities, and provide support for innovative business growth.

In recent years, the company has continued to promote the full application of AI technology in R&D and operation, and has continuously consolidated AI capacity building. The self-developed multi-modal algorithm model Boomiix continues to be upgraded to further improve the accuracy of social matching and the level of operational intelligence; the AI intelligent data platform Siyu effectively shortens the response cycle for data queries, change analysis, report generation, etc.; and the AI intelligent design platform KIVI continues to improve the production efficiency and richness of content such as virtual gifts and delivery materials.

While consolidating underlying AI capabilities, the company is actively exploring the implementation of AI applications. The incubated AI game community Aippy received tens of millions of dollars in independent financing, with an estimated value of 250 million US dollars after investment. The cumulative number of global downloads was nearly 4 million. DAU increased about 6 times compared to the beginning of the year, and user retention performance ranked among the highest in the industry. At the same time, the company's AI Agent payment project NUSD Pay achieved commercial operation, and AI application scenarios continued to expand. In addition, the company also continues to promote the AI industry investment layout, continuously invest in projects in the fields of world models and AI native game engines, AI interactive games, AI advertising and marketing, and continuously improve the AI application landscape.

In the first half of this year, the company continued to promote share repurchases and cancellation. In March, the company announced plans to invest approximately HK$300 million in share repurchases over the next two years. During the reporting period, the company completed two share repurchases and cancellations, with a cumulative total of approximately 10.206 million shares, involving an amount of approximately HK$85.126 million. In addition, the company issued an announcement on July 9 to repurchase shares from the market under NBT's restricted share unit plan to implement long-term employee incentives, with a total amount of approximately HK$39.838 million.

In March of this year, the company was officially included in the Hong Kong Stock Connect Eligible Securities List, further broadening the channels for mainland investors to participate. Since inclusion, the company's market attention and trading activity have continued to increase. The average daily turnover has increased by about 2 times compared to the level in the first 3 months of inclusion, and the shareholder structure has been further optimized, laying a good foundation for the company's long-term steady development.