IPO Preview: Haimacloud's High Revenue Growth Masks Three-Year Loss of 6.5 Billion Yuan

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Yesterday

A company suspected to be the cloud service provider for "Black Myth: Wukong" has once again filed for an IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. On January 30, Anhui Haimacloud Technology Co., Ltd. submitted its listing application to the main board of the HKEX, with CICC and CMB International acting as joint sponsors. This marks the company's second attempt to list in Hong Kong, following its initial application in June 2025.

Founded in 2013, Haimacloud is China's largest GPUaaS provider for real-time cloud rendering services in cloud gaming, offering solutions primarily to clients in the gaming, pan-entertainment, digital tourism, and digital education sectors. According to data from CIC, Haimacloud ranked first among real-time cloud rendering service providers in China's cloud gaming market in 2024, with a market share of 17.9%.

Despite its leading position, the company faces a stark contrast in its fundamentals: while it holds the title of China's top GPUaaS provider for cloud gaming, it has also accumulated losses of 6.5 billion yuan over the past three years. This raises questions about the motives behind its latest listing attempt and its underlying investment appeal.

**Performance Duality: Rapid Revenue Growth vs. Persistent Losses** GPUaaS is a cloud solution that enables users to access GPU-based computing resources remotely and cost-effectively through virtualization technology. It primarily includes graphics GPUaaS for real-time cloud rendering and computing GPUaaS for AI inference and training.

As the leading provider in its niche, Haimacloud serves a diverse client base, including enterprise customers such as digital content operators, gaming platforms, developers, tool service providers, and mobile hardware manufacturers. As of December 31, 2024, the company provided real-time cloud rendering services to nine of the top ten players in China's cloud gaming industry and maintained long-term partnerships with prominent entities like China Mobile, several leading mobile hardware manufacturers, major gaming platforms, and top game developers.

By October 31, 2025, Haimacloud's platform hosted over 32,000 games, including several recent high-profile titles released across various devices. Among these is a phenomenally successful action RPG developed in China and released in 2024, widely believed to be "Black Myth: Wukong," as well as a groundbreaking open-world game launched in 2020 that significantly enhanced mobile gaming experiences.

However, despite its proven capabilities in real-time cloud rendering for cloud gaming, Haimacloud's financial performance reveals a clear dichotomy. On one side is the "A-side" of robust revenue growth. From 2022 to 2024, the company's revenue increased from 290 million yuan to 337 million yuan and further to 520 million yuan, achieving a compound annual growth rate of 33.8%. For the first ten months of 2025, revenue continued its strong growth, rising 37.98% year-on-year to 584 million yuan.

Breaking down the revenue structure, cloud gaming GPUaaS remains the core revenue driver, contributing 521 million yuan in the first ten months of 2025—a 31.4% increase—and accounting for 89.2% of total revenue. Cloud-native content services generated 39.7 million yuan, surging 157.4% and making up 6.8% of revenue.

On the flip side is the "B-side" of persistent losses and financial strain. From 2022 to 2024, Haimacloud recorded net losses of 246 million yuan, 218 million yuan, and 186 million yuan, respectively, accumulating a total loss of 650 million yuan over three years. As of the first ten months of 2025, the company remained in the red, posting a net loss of 149 million yuan. These continued losses are primarily attributed to high computing resource, IDC, and server procurement costs. Additionally, substantial financing costs have eroded a significant portion of gross profit.

The ongoing losses have also intensified liquidity pressure. By the end of 2024, the company held only 26.24 million yuan in cash and equivalents, while its net current liabilities stood at 1.674 billion yuan. The current ratio was a mere 0.2 times, indicating considerable debt-servicing challenges. Furthermore, Haimacloud is bound by a valuation adjustment mechanism; if it fails to complete its listing by December 31, 2026, it may be obligated to repurchase shares, potentially exacerbating its financial burden.

Thus, even as a leader in its field, Haimacloud faces unavoidable profitability and financial pressures, making its Hong Kong listing a strategic move to alleviate some of these strains.

**High Potential Amid Significant Challenges** The "real-time cloud rendering for cloud gaming" sector in which Haimacloud operates is an emerging market, characterized by high growth potential and strong developmental momentum. As a core technological enabler for cloud gaming, this segment is experiencing clear and rapid expansion.

According to CIC, the global real-time cloud rendering services market grew from 11 billion yuan in 2020 to 29.7 billion yuan in 2024, representing a compound annual growth rate of 28.1%. It is projected to reach 87 billion yuan by 2029, with a CAGR of 24.0% from 2024 to 2029. The Chinese market is expanding even faster, increasing from 2.4 billion yuan in 2020 to 8 billion yuan in 2024—a CAGR of 34.4%—and is expected to grow to 33.2 billion yuan by 2029, with a CAGR of 33.1%.

Despite this promising outlook, the sector faces several major challenges. First is the worldwide issue of commercial profitability: the capital-intensive, high-investment nature of cloud gaming has yet to produce many sustained profit success stories globally, as evidenced by the closure of Google's Stadia service due to commercialization difficulties. Second, balancing technology and cost is difficult: delivering high-quality, low-latency experiences requires deploying extensive GPU server infrastructure and bearing high computing and IDC costs, which continually squeeze profit margins. Finally, competition from giants and the risk of in-house development loom large—major game developers may build their own rendering capabilities, while tech titans are also expanding their presence in the field, potentially crowding out independent service providers.

Within this context of high potential and significant challenges, Haimacloud faces an additional underlying concern: heavy reliance on major clients. From 2022 to 2024, revenue from the top five customers consistently exceeded 70% of total revenue, with the largest client alone contributing over 35% annually. Any strategic shift or budget reduction by these key customers could severely impact the company's financial performance.

In summary, Haimacloud is positioned in a high-growth emerging technological arena and has established itself as a "hidden champion" through its technical expertise and industry standing. However, its business model is confronted with substantial challenges, including significant customer concentration and persistent losses, which contribute to considerable operational pressure. Consequently, its investment profile is characterized by high risk and potential high return, heavily dependent on whether its technological moat and market share can ultimately help it overcome financial losses and client dependency to capitalize on the industry's expansion.

Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.

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