Produced by | Frontline of Entrepreneurship

Art Editor | Xing Jing

Reviewed by | Song Wen

In 1994, Japan Thinking Co., Ltd. developed the world’s first voice coil motor (VCM) for mobile phones, marking the beginning of the miniaturized image motor era.

Two decades later, in 2014, this VCM technology pioneer was acquired by Chinese investors and rebranded as “Shinco Motor.”

On July 5, 2026, Shinco Motor Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Shinco Motor”) filed its second application for a mainboard listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, making another bid to tap the capital markets.

As China’s leading manufacturer of miniature precision motors and the top player in the OIS image motor sector, Shinco Motor has seen its revenue surge from RMB 855 million to RMB 1.957 billion over three years, with net profit swinging from a RMB 30.1 million loss to a RMB 120 million profit, demonstrating remarkable growth.

However, the company faces significant challenges: over 40% of its revenue comes from entities controlled by its principal shareholder, cash reserves have shrunk by more than RMB 100 million in four months, and growth in its core smartphone business is slowing...

Shinco Motor’s IPO is driven by financing needs and the urgency to secure capital before its core business loses momentum.

1. RMB 1.957 Billion in Annual Revenue: Glory Amid Challenges

Shinco Motor’s journey began with an acquisition.

Founded in Jiaxing, Zhejiang, in September 2014 and initially wholly owned by Thinking Motor (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., the company underwent a pivotal change in November 2016 when Cai Zhenpeng acquired approximately 90.03% of its equity for around RMB 130.5 million, marking the transition from Japanese to Chinese ownership.

Over the years, although equity was diluted through multiple funding rounds, the Cai Zhenpeng family maintained firm control over voting rights through various holding platforms. Prior to the IPO, Cai Zhenpeng, his uncle Cai Rongjun, and the companies they controlled formed a concert party, collectively holding approximately 56.97% of Shinco Motor’s voting rights.

In December 2025, Cai Rongjun officially became Shinco Motor’s Chairman. Thus, this precision motor enterprise, once backed by Japanese capital, now bears the strong imprint of the Cai family.

Today, Shinco Motor offers a comprehensive image product lineup, including OIS motors, periscope motors, open-loop motors, and closed-loop motors. Its non-image products, such as stepper motors and brushless DC motors, are used in robotic vacuum cleaners, security surveillance, and automotive electronics.

(Figure/Image Motor Products (Source: Prospectus))

These offerings have delivered impressive results.

From 2023 to 2025, the company’s revenue soared from RMB 855 million to RMB 1.957 billion, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 51.3%.

Meanwhile, its net profit rebounded from a RMB 30.102 million loss in 2023 to a RMB 105 million profit in 2024, further increasing to RMB 120 million in 2025. Gross margin improved from 8.4% to 16.7%.

(Figure/Prospectus)

Based on 2025 revenue, Shinco Motor ranks fourth globally and first in China in the OIS image motor sector, with market shares of 5.6% and 14.0%, respectively.

However, beneath this success lie concerns—revenue growth is rapidly decelerating.

In 2024, revenue grew by 82.9% year-on-year, but the rate plummeted to 25.1% in 2025 and further narrowed to 19.5% in the first four months of 2026.

Profit quality is also questionable. The gross margin of OIS motors, which account for half of the revenue, declined from 16.5% in 2024 to 11.7% in 2025.

Shinco Motor attributed this to “delayed shipments due to temporary postponement of end-customer demand and weak absorption capacity of production costs.”

From 2024 to the first four months of 2026, the company’s OIS motor capacity utilization rate plummeted from 87.1% to 53.0%.

In other words, weakening demand from major customers has left the company’s capacity idle, making it difficult to spread fixed costs.

Fortunately, the gross margins of Shinco Motor’s open-loop and closed-loop motors remain relatively high, boosting overall profitability—the comprehensive gross margin slightly increased from 15.9% to 16.7% in 2025.

However, capacity utilization rates for many products have sharply declined, raising external concerns. As of the end of April 2026, the utilization rate of open-loop motors fell from 69.9% in 2025 to 27.0%, while periscope motors remained at 33.9%. Among the five major product lines, four had utilization rates below 60%.

(Figure/Prospectus)

At this juncture, the company is still proceeding with the construction of its Nanchang periscope motor factory and Dongguan brushless DC motor factory. The new factories’ profitability may be delayed, and significant depreciation and amortization could further erode the already fragile profitability in the short term.

2. Success and Struggles Tied to O-film Tech

Shinco Motor’s development is deeply intertwined with O-film Tech. The fates of these two companies are closely tied to one individual—Cai Rongjun.

Cai Rongjun is the Chairman and actual controller of O-film Tech, as well as a non-executive director and Chairman of Shinco Motor.

Meanwhile, Cai Zhenpeng, the Vice Chairman and CEO of Shinco Motor, is Cai Rongjun’s nephew, and both are the controlling shareholders of Shinco Motor.

In essence, Shinco Motor and O-film Tech are enterprises of the Cai family.

This relationship is also amplified at the business level.

From 2023 to the first four months of 2026 (hereinafter referred to as the “reporting period”), O-film Tech contributed RMB 324 million, RMB 432 million, RMB 594 million, and RMB 290 million in revenue to Shinco Motor, accounting for 37.9%, 27.6%, 30.4%, and 41.7% of the relevant revenue, respectively.

Among them, O-film Tech was Shinco Motor’s largest customer in 2023, 2025, and the first four months of 2026, and its second-largest customer in 2024.

(Figure/Prospectus)

At the same time, O-film Tech is also one of Shinco Motor’s suppliers, providing lenses, automation equipment, and other items for testing purposes.

The financial costs of this deep integration have already emerged.

During the reporting period, Shinco Motor’s trade receivables and notes receivable were RMB 341 million, RMB 648 million, RMB 672 million, and RMB 828 million, respectively. As of May 31, 2026, this financial indicator increased to RMB 921 million.

(Figure/Prospectus)

From 2023 to 2025, trade receivables from O-film Tech increased from RMB 92 million to RMB 132 million, with a cumulative growth of approximately 43%.

By the end of April 2026, trade receivables from O-film Tech further climbed to RMB 232 million, a 75.68% increase from the end of 2025.

Such a large volume of receivables from related parties accounts for about 28% of Shinco Motor’s total trade receivables during the same period, four times the company’s cash reserves (RMB 57.068 million) during the same period.

With nearly 30% of receivables concentrated among related parties, any fluctuations in O-film Tech’s operations or delays in payments could directly impact Shinco Motor’s already fragile cash flow, posing a recovery risk for the RMB 232 million in receivables.

Data shows that O-film Tech has reported negative net profit attributable to shareholders for six consecutive years. In the first half of 2026, O-film Tech is expected to report a net loss attributable to shareholders of RMB 360 million to RMB 460 million, indicating a bleak profit outlook.

(Figure/O-film Tech's Financial Data (Source: East Money))

Moreover, O-film Tech’s own history serves as a cautionary tale. In 2021, O-film Tech was removed from Apple’s supply chain, leading to a sharp decline in performance, with profit in the first half of 2021 falling by more than 90% year-on-year. Having once entrusted its operational lifeline to Apple, O-film Tech has now tied Shinco Motor’s fate to itself—will the capital market view this cycle favorably?

3. Slowing Growth in Core Smartphone Business, Betting on Dexterous Hands

Shinco Motor’s prospectus tells a story of transformation from “mobile phone motors to a multi-scenario driving platform.”

This is largely due to the slowing growth of its core smartphone business.

In 2024, the smartphone business generated RMB 1.43 billion in revenue, surging by 82.0% year-on-year; however, in 2025, the revenue growth rate plummeted to 7.8%.

In the first four months of 2026, the business generated RMB 511 million in revenue, a slight decline of about RMB 160,000 year-on-year, showing signs of a downturn.

(Figure/Prospectus)

In fact, the growth rate of smartphone shipments has also significantly slowed. According to IDC data, the global smartphone shipment growth rate dropped from 6.4% in 2024 to 1.9% in 2025.

Against the backdrop of slowing growth in the mobile phone industry, the proportion of Shinco Motor’s non-mobile phone business climbed from 6.9% in 2023 to 24.4% in the first four months of 2026, showing significant growth.

However, a closer look reveals an uneven structure in the non-mobile phone business.

Among them, the handheld imaging and action camera business grew rapidly, generating RMB 129 million in revenue in the first four months of 2026, accounting for 19.1%.

Other non-mobile phone businesses, however, have largely stagnated. Security surveillance generated RMB 45.04 million in revenue in 2025, a 2.3% year-on-year decline, and only a 6.8% increase in the first four months of 2026.

Although the smart home business has grown, its absolute volume was only RMB 24.525 million in 2025, accounting for just 1.3%.

In other words, outside the mobile phone business, only the handheld imaging and action camera business is supporting revenue growth.

Currently, Shinco Motor is also exploring new markets such as embodied robots and the low-altitude economy.

In November 2025, Shinco Motor signed a strategic cooperation agreement with a leading robotics company and began commercial sales of dexterous hand joint motor modules in 2026.

However, as a latecomer, the challenges are significant.

For example, Moons' Electric has built a full-stack component platform covering “motors + drives + transmissions + closed-loop systems,” capable of mass-supplying core drive modules for dexterous hands and upper limb joints. Zhaowei Mechanical & Electrical unveiled its self-developed 20-degree-of-freedom complete dexterous hand system at CES 2026, having started product iteration and customer validation earlier.

It was not until November 2025 that Shinco Motor signed a robotics cooperation agreement and only began commercial sales of dexterous hand joint motors in 2026, significantly lagging behind peers like Moons' Electric and Zhaowei Mechanical & Electrical in terms of technological accumulation, validation by top customers, and scaling (mass production) rhythm.

More critically, the technological route for robotic dexterous hands has not yet converged, with different manufacturers focusing on different technical solutions. Shinco Motor also needs to guard against the risk of betting on the wrong technological route.

More importantly, the question remains whether its cash flow can hold until the story comes to fruition. As of April 30, 2026, its cash and cash equivalents were RMB 57.068 million, with financial assets of RMB 50.024 million. Although short-term bank borrowings were less than RMB 40 million, these funds must support the construction and commissioning of two new factories, address pressure from slowing mobile phone business, and wait for the robotics business to transition from prototypes to mass production—any deviation in any of these areas could push its cash flow to the breaking point.

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