Ultra-Precision Optics: RMB 660M Orders, 69% Semiconductor

INDUSTRY NEWS · ULTRA-PRECISION OPTICS · SEPTEMBER 2026

A precision optics maker has roughly RMB 660 million of orders on hand and lost money in the first half of 2026. Both facts are true, they come from the same disclosure, and understanding why they coexist is what a semiconductor optics buyer needs from this story.

Nanjing MLOptic Technology Co., Ltd. (688502.SH) disclosed order book details as of 31 March 2026 showing cumulative orders on hand of approximately RMB 660 million, up 69% year on year. Semiconductor orders accounted for approximately RMB 460 million, up 82%, or roughly 69% of the total. New orders booked in the first quarter of 2026 alone reached about RMB 300 million, up 138%, and about 75% of those new orders came from semiconductor customers.

Then came the half-year report. First-half 2026 revenue was RMB 427 million, up 33.97%, while net profit attributable to shareholders was a loss of RMB 13.42 million, down 140.96%. Second-quarter revenue was RMB 244 million, up 38.27%, with a second-quarter attributable loss of RMB 2.31 million, down 114.32%. Gross margin was 40.95%, down 17.53 percentage points, and net margin was -3.14%. Three operating expenses together reached RMB 120 million, or 28.14% of revenue, up 34.7%. Net assets per share were RMB 22.44.

A demand boom and a margin problem in the same filing

The company attributes the margin compression to a deliberate change in customer mix. It entered a strategic cooperation with an international semiconductor metrology and inspection customer whose business volume has grown significantly but whose gross margin is lower. As that customer’s share of revenue rose, blended gross margin and net profit fell in the short term. The customer is not named in the disclosure.

That is a familiar shape in precision optics. Winning a large metrology or inspection account requires capacity, metrology capability and engineering hours before it produces margin. The order book says the demand is real; the income statement says the cost of serving it has not yet been absorbed.

• Semiconductor is now the majority of the order book. At roughly 69% of orders on hand and 75% of new first-quarter orders, this is no longer a diversified optics business with a semiconductor arm. Its capacity planning is semiconductor capacity planning.
• The capacity answer is capital-intensive and not yet built. The Nanjing volume manufacturing base carries a total investment of no more than RMB 1 billion and a construction period expected at no more than 24 months, and its filing procedures are reported as complete. As of the disclosed date it was still at the land purchase preparation stage, with the land not yet formally contracted. The company also intends to apply for a composite credit facility of no more than RMB 2 billion.
• The stated bottleneck is metrology, not machines. The company identifies precision measurement capability as its primary constraint, alongside a reserve of experienced technical staff, equipment commissioning, and cleanroom environmental control for vibration, temperature and humidity. Those are all slow constraints to relieve.
• Coating coverage is a genuine differentiator. Coating is one of the company’s five core processes, and it reports full-spectrum coverage across deep ultraviolet, visible, near infrared and mid-to-far infrared, applied to semiconductor optical lenses, narrow-band multispectral filters, fluorescence filters, optical lenses and system-level optical devices.
• It is an export-capable supplier. Nanjing is its core domestic manufacturing base, with plants in Thailand and the United Kingdom and an R&D centre in the United States, which matters to buyers who need a non-single-country supply route.

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How to buy ultra-precision optics from a supplier in this position

• Ask for the metrology report, not the catalogue. If precision measurement is the acknowledged constraint, then the interferometer, spectrophotometer and surface profiler behind your part are the real capability statement. Request the actual measurement data for your first articles.
• Check which site would make your parts. A supplier with Nanjing, Thailand, United Kingdom and United States footprints will route volume to whichever site has free capacity. Confirm that the site quoted is the site that will run production, and that it holds the same coating capability.
• Treat a land-stage expansion as a future date, not a current one. A project whose land is not yet formally contracted and whose construction period is up to 24 months cannot relieve demand inside the next planning cycle. Do not build a 2027 ramp on it.
• Low-margin flagship programmes change who is profitable for you. A supplier absorbing a large low-margin account has an incentive to price small, high-specification orders differently. Expect quotes for low-volume custom optics to move before quotes for high-volume standard parts do.
• Use full-spectrum coating coverage as a qualification question. Deep ultraviolet through mid-to-far infrared in one house is uncommon. Ask for transmission and durability data at your specific band edges rather than accepting a range claim, since band-edge performance is where coating houses differ most.

Sources and disclosure

Sources: Shanghai Securities News report of 11 April 2026 covering the Nanjing volume manufacturing base, order book and credit facility details; Securities Star (证券之星) analysis of MLOptic’s 2026 interim report published 30 August 2026 covering first-half and second-quarter revenue, profit, gross margin, net margin, expenses and per-share figures; investor relations activity records covering the coating process scope and stated capacity constraints. Orders on hand are stated as of 31 March 2026 and first-quarter new orders as reported for the quarter ended 31 March 2026; the half-year figures cover the period ended 30 June 2026, and the two sets of figures are not directly comparable. The identity of the international semiconductor metrology and inspection customer has not been disclosed and is not guessed here. Third-party analyst forecasts for the full year have been excluded because they are projections rather than reported results. All figures are reproduced as the cited sources state them and have not been independently audited by us. This article is original editorial analysis by TUOLAN TRADE for industry reference, not investment advice or an offer of securities. Product and company names remain the property of their respective owners.