Amidst the global competition for technology companies to translate AI advancements into commercial success, a Chinese firm with the mission to "Make the World More Beautiful" is quietly undergoing a remarkable transformation from a tool-centric application provider to an AI-powered technology leader.

Recently, Meitu unveiled a market-shocking performance report, showcasing a 71.3% year-on-year surge in adjusted net profit and a gross margin climb to 73.6%. Both core indicators have achieved outstanding results.

This financial report's release comes at a pivotal moment when the commercialization of AI applications globally is delving deeper. From OpenAI to Adobe, from Microsoft to Baidu, tech giants are actively exploring ways to truly "monetize" AI technology.

Against this backdrop, Meitu has proven the effectiveness of its AI technology commercialization strategy to the market and also presented a successful model for Chinese AI applications to expand globally.

Core Business Undergoes Structural Optimization, AI Monetization Achieves New Breakthroughs

The financial report indicates that Meitu's revenue for the first half of 2025 was 1.821 billion yuan, a 12.3% increase from 1.621 billion yuan in the same period last year. The adjusted net profit for the first half of the year was 467 million yuan, up 71.3% from 273 million yuan in the corresponding period last year.

While the growth rate may seem slower compared to previous years, a closer look at the business structure reveals a strategic shift—significantly reducing low-margin businesses and focusing resources on high-value-added AI-driven imaging and design products.

In terms of business segments, Meitu's revenue from imaging and design products in the first half of 2025 was 1.351 billion yuan, a 45.2% increase from 930 million yuan in the same period last year.

Meitu's advertising revenue for the first half of 2025 stood at 434 million yuan, a 5% increase from 413 million yuan in the same period last year, accounting for 23.8% of total revenue. Revenue from beauty solutions was 30.07 million yuan, down 88.9% from 271 million yuan in the same period last year, accounting for 1.7% of total revenue.

This strategic business adjustment directly pushed the company's overall gross margin from 64.9% in the same period last year to 73.6%, an increase of 8.7 percentage points, generating a gross profit of 1.34 billion yuan.

A deeper dive into Meitu's core business growth engine reveals that the AI-empowered paid subscription model boasts robust monetization capabilities. As of June 30, 2025, Meitu's paid subscription user base reached approximately 15.4 million, a record high and a year-on-year increase of over 42%. The paid subscription penetration rate hit 5.5%.

Among these, approximately 13.6 million paid subscription users come from lifestyle applications, such as flagship products like MeituXiuXiu and BeautyCam, which continue to maintain the largest user base in China's photo beautification and photography market.

Notably, the number of paid users for productivity tools reached 1.8 million, reflecting Meitu's successful expansion from C-end entertainment applications to B-end productivity tools. This diversified paid user structure enhances the stability and sustainability of Meitu's revenue streams.

The productization capability of AI technology constitutes another pillar of Meitu's performance growth. In the first half of 2025, Meitu's R&D investment reached 450 million yuan, a 6.1% year-on-year increase. Its subsidiary, Meitu Imaging Research Institute (MTLab), published 59 papers in top international conferences and journals and won multiple AI competitions.

These technological advancements swiftly translate into product competitiveness: BeautyCam topped the overall charts of application stores in several countries like Thailand and Vietnam with features such as "AI Costume Change." Wink, meanwhile, led the charts in markets like Indonesia with its "Image Quality Restoration" function.

These AI features not only enhance user experience but also create differentiated paid points, driving the growth of subscription revenue.

The Era of AI Agents Arrives, and Meitu Leads the Charge

The most forward-looking signal in Meitu's first-half 2025 financial report is its strategic layout of AI Agents.

Launched in July this year, the AI Agent product RoboNeo assists users in creating high-quality visual content through automated intelligent design. After its launch, it quickly gained global popularity, entering the top 10 of app store category charts in dozens of countries and topping the charts in markets such as China and Vietnam. This marks Meitu's transformation from a traditional image processing tool to an AI-driven creative platform.

Reportedly, without internal product matrix traffic, RoboNeo has already surpassed one million MAU (Monthly Active Users). This prompt-based interactive design tool supports various scenarios, including brand promotion, social media, and fashion design. Its rapid customer acquisition capability validates the strong market demand for AI design assistants.

The strategic cooperation with Alibaba in May further underscored Meitu's ambition to build an AI ecosystem. In May this year, Meitu received a convertible bond investment of $250 million from Alibaba, and the collaboration between the two parties has already borne initial fruits.

Moreover, Wu Xinhong recently publicly stated that they plan to jointly launch an AI virtual fitting function with Alibaba, integrating Meitu's AI virtual fitting capabilities with Alibaba merchants' clothing resources to enhance users' online shopping experience.

This cross-border "AI + e-commerce" integration not only brings revenue sharing to Meitu but also connects it to Alibaba's commercial ecosystem, expanding application scenarios.

Additionally, some capabilities of Meitu designers will be integrated into Taobao's merchant backend, including professional tools such as AI product images, enabling Meitu's technology to directly serve millions of merchants, opening up a new path for B-end monetization.

An in-depth analysis of Meitu's strategic direction reveals that the company is proactively addressing the triple challenges of the AI Agent era: Firstly, the challenge of technology integration, where Meitu needs to consolidate dispersed AI capabilities (like costume change, image quality restoration, intelligent design) into a unified AI Agent platform to provide an end-to-end creative experience;

Secondly, the commercialization challenge, which necessitates exploring diversified monetization models beyond subscription fees, such as e-commerce revenue sharing and enterprise services;

Finally, the globalization challenge, which requires optimizing product features based on user preferences in different regions, such as the Southeast Asian market's penchant for beautification functions and the European and American markets' focus on productivity tools.

From a regional market perspective, the steady progress of the globalization strategy has opened up new growth avenues for Meitu. The financial report shows that Meitu's global monthly active user base reached 280 million, an 8.5% year-on-year increase, with the number of monthly active users outside mainland China at 98 million, a 15.3% year-on-year increase, significantly outpacing the domestic market's 5.2% growth rate.

This underscores the growing recognition of Meitu's products among professional users overseas. This global layout not only diversifies single market risks but also provides Meitu with a broader user base, laying the foundation for future paid conversions.

Conclusion

Today, Meitu has transformed from a filter kingdom into an AI-driven visual productivity platform.

When 15.4 million paid users vote with their wallets for "beauty technology," and when RoboNeo's million monthly active users validate AI productization capabilities, the capital market suddenly realizes: the once-known Meitu has completed its transformation and become one of the few technology enterprises globally that have achieved large-scale monetization of AI applications.