Author: Gao Linglang Editor: Ai Qingshan

On October 20, Hippoc Data's stock price initially rose but swiftly retreated on its first trading day following the announcement of its largest-ever computing power service contract. The stock closed down 7.14% at 201.3 yuan per share, with net principal fund outflows exceeding 68 million yuan.

The previous evening, Hippoc Data revealed that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Hippoc Intelligent Computing Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., had inked a with an undisclosed client. The contract, valued at up to 37.49 billion yuan, spans a 60-month service term starting the day after order acceptance.

To put this in perspective, Hippoc Data's total annual revenue in 2025 was 12.236 billion yuan, making this contract amount nearly equivalent to three years' worth of its total revenue.

Remarkably, this stands as the largest single computing power service contract publicly disclosed by an A-share listed company to date, eclipsing the 16-19 billion yuan contract unveiled by Dongyangguang in May of this year.

For context, during the same period, SIY Information's cumulative computing power-related contract total with Company W for the year climbed to 7.035 billion yuan. Meanwhile, Colorful Technology's computing power technical service agreement with Company H, signed in late September, was valued at no less than 1.812 billion yuan. Hippoc Data's contract dwarfs both in scale.

While the magnitude of the contract has garnered market attention, the stock price's reaction suggests that investor concerns extend beyond the headline figure.

Hippoc Data's journey to its current stature has spanned nearly two decades.

Founder Geng Kangming, born in Bozhou, Anhui, in 1974, joined Foxconn in 1995. He worked in engineering, quality control, and procurement, rising to section chief before departing in 2001. He later served as deputy general manager at two electronics manufacturing companies in Guangdong, where he completed his initial capital accumulation.

In 2005, Geng established Hippoc Liko Digital Electronics in Shenzhen, supplying storage products like USB drives and memory modules to major manufacturers such as Lenovo under OEM arrangements. When the company went public on the A-share market in July 2020, its revenue stood at just 2.25 billion yuan, with a net profit of 100 million yuan, still operating as a traditional IoT terminal manufacturer.

The turning point came in 2023 when Geng foresaw explosive growth in computing power demand and shifted the company's strategic focus to computing power leasing.

In 2024, the company's Hong Kong subsidiary, Aojia Software, secured NVIDIA's NCP advanced certification, granting it direct procurement rights for AI computing chips—a qualification reportedly held by only about five domestic enterprises. This scarce channel became a pivotal support for Hippoc Data's rapid expansion.

Subsequently, the company embarked on intensive procurement. In 2025, it issued five server procurement announcements with a combined budget ceiling of 21.2 billion yuan. In February 2026, it added another 11 billion yuan procurement contract, bringing the total planned procurement amount to approximately 32.2 billion yuan.

That same year, Hippoc Data also acquired a 51% stake in Guangwei Technology for 500 million yuan, establishing its presence in the optical module industry chain. In June, the company disclosed a private placement plan of up to 8 billion yuan, with about 4.686 billion yuan earmarked for constructing a training-inference integrated intelligent computing center.

Performance data validated the interim success of this strategy. According to its 2026 interim report, the company's revenue for the period was 12.523 billion yuan, up 153.29% year-on-year. Net profit attributable to shareholders was 1.838 billion yuan, up 325.51% year-on-year.

Revenue from the intelligent computing power products and services segment reached 3.216 billion yuan for the period, surpassing the 2.761 billion yuan recorded for the entire year of 2025. From the start of 2023 to the end of September this year, Hippoc Data's stock price has surged by over 2600%.

A larger contract also brings greater financial pressure.

Hippoc Data's announcement explicitly cautioned that fulfilling the 37.49 billion yuan contract requires substantial upfront procurement of computing power servers. This will be financed through a combination of self-funded resources and financial institution loans, with anticipated high financial costs.

Given the company's financial structure as of the end of June 2026—with net assets of 6.062 billion yuan, total assets of 48.085 billion yuan, and a debt-to-asset ratio of 86.79%—there is a significant gap between the contract ceiling and available self-funded resources. The smooth execution of subsequent financing will directly impact delivery timelines.

Under this high-leverage expansion path, the company's interest-bearing debt has approached 26 billion yuan, with daily interest expenses of about 2 million yuan. Earlier this year, it also signed server finance lease contracts totaling 4.248 billion yuan with ICBC Financial Leasing and Industrial Financial Leasing.

The debt-to-asset ratio has continuously climbed from around 49% at the end of 2022 to nearly 87% today, significantly narrowing financial flexibility.

Previously, the company faced public skepticism. Media reports pointed out a lack of clear alignment between the 32.2 billion yuan procurement announcements and corresponding sales contracts. Additionally, the company was expected to generate 850 million yuan in related-party sales to Maita Beisi, a company with net assets of less than 200,000 yuan and only one insured employee, while also making 300 million yuan in related-party purchases from Qishuo Technology. This raised market suspicions of channelized transactions.

On October 13, Hippoc Data responded, stating that as of the end of June 2026, cumulative sales to Maita Beisi amounted to approximately 134 million yuan, and cumulative purchases from Qishuo Technology totaled about 93.77 million yuan. Transaction prices showed no material deviation from market reference prices, refuting the external skepticism.

The company's 2026 restricted stock incentive plan sets revenue growth targets of 130%, 340%, and 700% for 2026-2028, respectively, compared to the 2025 baseline. The fulfillment pace of the 37.49 billion yuan contract will significantly influence the achievement of these goals.

The acceptance cycle and timely availability of funds are two core variables for external assessment of the contract's true value, which is precisely why the market adopted a cautious stance following the announcement.

Disclaimer: The content of this article is for reference only. The information or opinions expressed herein do not constitute any investment advice. Readers are advised to make investment decisions cautiously.