Warehouse picking is the most labor-intensive segment within warehouse operations, and as the demographic dividend gradually fades, the demand for machines to replace manual labor continues to be unleashed. As a new generation of flexible automation solutions, the ACR box storage robot industry is seeing accelerated commercialization. On September 13, Shenzhen Hai Robotics Intelligent Technology Group Co., Ltd. ("Hai Robotics") resubmitted its listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange main board, with Goldman Sachs and CITIC Securities as joint sponsors. The company had initially filed with the exchange on February 13, 2026. As the pioneer of ACR solutions, Hai Robotics has firmly established its global leadership position, yet despite rapid business expansion, the company has not achieved profitability. Combined with the early-stage nature of the sector, its growth trajectory remains fraught with multiple uncertainties.

Pioneer of Warehouse ACR Solutions with Operations Spanning 40+ Countries

According to the prospectus, Hai Robotics was founded in 2016, focusing on the warehouse picking automation track—a segment that is both the most labor-intensive and time-consuming step in warehousing. According to CIC data, in 2025, Hai Robotics was the world's largest ACR solution provider by both revenue and shipment volume, commanding a 32.8% market share. As reported by Zhitong Finance, warehouse picking automation solutions are primarily categorized into three types: AS/RS, AMR, and ACR. AS/RS involves traditional heavy-duty automated storage systems with high upfront investment and challenging retrofits; AMR transports entire racks to workstations for manual picking; ACR, meanwhile, uses sensors and algorithms to directly retrieve totes and deliver them to workstations, offering greater vertical storage utilization, higher space efficiency, flexible deployment, lower initial investment, and payback periods as short as 12 months. Hai Robotics has developed a comprehensive ACR product matrix. In 2017, the company launched its first ACR solution, HaiPick System 1, laying the foundation for its product line; HaiPick System 2 integrates pallet movement with tote picking, adapting to various non-standard items; HaiPick System 3 leverages hook-based tote extraction technology to retrieve totes in dense storage configurations, further enhancing storage density. In 2025, the company launched the world's first single-sided climbing ACR solution to achieve large-scale commercial deployment—HaiPick Climb—which is compatible with both new and retrofitted warehouses and supports storage heights up to 15 meters. The company also introduced an integrated electronics manufacturing and warehousing solution, enabling collaborative operation of multiple device types such as ACR and under-drive robots, paired with the HaiQ scheduling management software. In terms of business model, Hai Robotics adopts an "integrated hardware + software + deployment and operational maintenance services" approach. Revenue is divided into one-time income from initial project deployment and recurring income from subsequent expansion and maintenance. Sales are conducted through a dual strategy of direct sales complemented by channel partners, with the channel model playing a prominent role in overseas markets—as of the six months ended June 30, 2026, channel partners contributed 58.6% of revenue. The company's business has expanded to over 40 countries and regions, with overseas markets serving as a key growth engine; in the first half of 2026, revenue from markets outside mainland China rose to 50.2%. As of the same period, the company has served over 900 direct and channel customers, spanning verticals including apparel and fashion, e-commerce retail, third-party logistics, pharmaceuticals, 3C electronics, and automotive, with a customer repurchase rate of 89%.

Rapid Business Expansion, Yet Losses Persist

As the world's largest ACR solution provider, Hai Robotics has achieved rapid business growth in recent years. From 2023 to 2025, the company's revenue was RMB 807 million, RMB 1.36 billion, and RMB 2.017 billion, respectively. In the first half of 2026, revenue reached RMB 1.118 billion, a year-over-year increase of 70.2%. Order volumes have also climbed in tandem: full-year 2025 orders totaled RMB 2.947 billion, while orders in the first half of 2026 reached RMB 2.353 billion. On the profitability front, the company's gross margin has continued to improve, driven by a rising share of high-margin overseas business, product standardization, and economies of scale—improving from 16.0% in 2023 to 31.2% in 2025, and further to 34.4% in the first half of 2026. However, this high growth is built on substantial investment. The company has recorded sustained net losses during the reporting period: net losses were RMB 1.009 billion, RMB 1.256 billion, and RMB 828 million for 2023, 2024, and 2025, respectively, with a net loss of RMB 431 million in the first half of 2026. The losses stem from multiple fronts. On one hand, sales and marketing expenses remain elevated to expand both domestic and international markets. On the other hand, continuous technological iteration has driven R&D expenditures of RMB 309 million, RMB 334 million, and RMB 385 million from 2023 to 2025; although R&D as a percentage of revenue has trended downward, absolute investment remains high. Additionally, there are non-operating, financing-related losses such as interest on redeemable preferred share liabilities and fair value changes in derivative liabilities. Under the non-IFRS measure, the adjusted net loss margin narrowed from 86.1% in 2023 to 18.6% in the first half of 2026. In terms of operating cash flow, from 2023 to the first half of 2026, Hai Robotics' operating cash flow remained negative, with cumulative net outflows of RMB 1.072 billion. In the prospectus, the company stated that due to sustained investment in core technology R&D, expansion of the product matrix, growth in sales and marketing expenses from overseas expansion, and increased working capital demands from business growth, it expects to continue posting net losses in 2026, with operating cash outflows potentially widening further.

ACR Sector Expanding Rapidly, Yet Multiple Tests Remain for Growth Realization

From an operational standpoint, scale expansion combined with a rising share of high-margin overseas business serves as the core lever for Hai Robotics to achieve profitability. As business volume increases, the company can leverage economies of scale to dilute procurement and manufacturing costs. Simultaneously, if the high-margin overseas revenue share continues to rise, paired with gradually declining sales and R&D expense ratios relative to revenue growth, the company is well-positioned to progressively approach break-even. To drive further business expansion, Hai Robotics intends to allocate the IPO proceeds across four key areas: technology R&D for iterative upgrades of ACR solutions; expanding global manufacturing capabilities to enhance supply chain resilience; broadening the global commercial and service network; and building out its talent pool, with the remainder earmarked for working capital. The company's expansion pace is supported by a high-growth sector. According to CIC data, ACR solutions only began commercial scaling in 2017, and the industry remains in its early market penetration phase. In 2025, the global ACR solutions market was valued at RMB 6.1 billion. Driven by growing downstream demand for high-throughput, high-density storage scenarios, the market is projected to grow to RMB 86 billion by 2030, representing a compound annual growth rate of 70.0% from 2026 to 2030. Given the more advanced automated picking capabilities and technological advantages of ACR, the ACR solutions market is the fastest-growing segment within the global warehouse picking automation solutions market. ACR penetration in this market is expected to increase from 3.2% in 2025 to 21.5% by 2030. The industry's rapid growth is underpinned by two core drivers: globally rising labor costs, which create rigid demand for cost reduction, efficiency improvement, and smart warehousing upgrades; and the prevalence of multi-SKU, fragmented orders in e-commerce and manufacturing, where traditional warehousing equipment suffers from poor adaptability and insufficient flexibility, making efficient and flexible ACR solutions the preferred choice for industry upgrades. While the sector expands at a high pace, industry uncertainties objectively persist. Warehousing automation upgrades constitute corporate capital expenditures, making demand highly sensitive to macroeconomic cycles; during economic downturns, downstream customers may scale back or delay intelligent investment. Furthermore, the high-growth sector continues to attract new entrants, and intensifying competition and price wars in the future could disrupt the company's profitability recovery trajectory. Overall, Hai Robotics has solidified its global leadership in the ACR space through product strength and global expansion. Its commercialization capability has been validated, evidenced by strong revenue growth, improving gross margins, and notable customer loyalty. At this stage, the company remains in an expansion-investment phase and has yet to achieve profitability. Supported by the industry's substantial incremental space and the boost from this fundraising, the company's logic for scale expansion and profitability recovery is clear. However, whether long-term growth will be successfully realized remains contingent on the pace of industry penetration, overseas execution results, and the evolution of the competitive landscape.