ZTE’s computing revenue jumps 150% amid AI boom, but profits fall 33%

China’s telecom and computing equipment maker ZTE on Friday reported revenue of 134 billion yuan (US$19 billion) in 2025, up 10.4 per cent, with its computing business surging 150 per cent year on year to account for 24.6 per cent of total sales amid the computing boom.

However, net profit attributable to shareholders fell 33.3 per cent to 5.62 billion yuan, while net profit excluding non-recurring items dropped 45.5 per cent to 3.37 billion yuan, according to a post-trading earnings filing. Gross margin for the year fell 7.66 percentage points to 30.25 per cent.

Chairman Fang Rong attributed the decline to “a shift in the industry cycle combined with adjustments to the company’s business structure”, as spending on traditional telecoms network equipment by operators slowed.

Shares in Shenzhen-listed ZTE closed down 1.27 per cent at 37.4 yuan on Friday, giving the company a market value of 178.9 billion yuan, while its Hong Kong-listed shares fell about 2 per cent to HK$25.4.

The company has been pushing its computing infrastructure buildout, including its servers and storage segments as well as data-centre solutions, whose revenue jumped 200 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively.

The Shenzhen-headquartered company touts what it describes as full-stack AI capabilities, drawing on its long-standing expertise in information and communications technology alongside chip design, algorithms and system integration.