The female tycoon worth tens of billions from Hunan heavily bets on humanoid robots.
Starting from scratch in a seemingly hopeless situation, Zhou Qunfei, who once made a remarkable comeback to become the richest woman in China, is now leading Lens Technology, a "giant in the Apple supply chain," to make a full - fledged sprint into the robotics track.
Since the beginning of this year, Lens Technology has been very active in the field of humanoid robots. Recently, the company invested 10 million yuan to establish Hunan Zhiqi Future Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Research Institute Co., Ltd. in an attempt to achieve further breakthroughs in the fields of AI and humanoid robots.
It is understood that Lens Technology has established close partnerships with several companies, including Zhipu Robotics, BrainCo, DeepCloud AI, Lingxin Qiaoshou, Lingbao CASBOT, Lingchu Intelligence, and Zero Power.
Among them, Lens Technology has undertaken the business of multiple models of Zhipu Robotics' full - series humanoid robots this year, with an expected mass production of over ten thousand units next year. Meanwhile, with the continuous increase in orders from North American customers, the revenue brought by the robotics business to the company is initially estimated to reach hundreds of millions of yuan.
In terms of performance, Lens Technology has maintained a steady and positive trend. In the third quarter of this year, the company's revenue increased by 19.25% year - on - year to 20.702 billion yuan, and its net profit attributable to the parent company also rose by 12.62% to 1.7 billion yuan.
However, it is worth noting that due to the increased proportion of the relatively low - gross - margin complete machine assembly business, Lens Technology's overall gross margin dropped to 19.09%.
Benefiting from its stable business fundamentals and forward - looking layout in emerging tracks such as humanoid robots, Lens Technology has been highly favored in the capital market recently. As of the close on November 7th, the stock price of Lens Technology was 31.12 yuan per share, up more than 40% from the beginning of the year, and its latest market value reached 164.4 billion yuan.
As the helmsman of Lens Technology, the wealth of Zhou Qunfei and her husband has also increased with the company's booming development. In the recently released "Hurun Rich List 2025", the couple ranked 32nd on the list with a fortune of 111 billion yuan. Their wealth soared by nearly 48 billion yuan compared with last year, and they once again became the richest people in Hunan, continuing their business legend.
Betting on the Robotics Track, Lens Technology Seeks New Growth Points
On November 4th, a company named Hunan Zhiqi Future Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Research Institute Co., Ltd. was officially registered and established.
According to Tianyancha, the company's registered capital is 10 million yuan, and its business scope includes: research and development of intelligent robots, sales of service - consumption robots, manufacturing of industrial robots, sales of intelligent robots, and development of artificial intelligence application software.
Equity information shows that the largest shareholder of this company is Lens Technology, a listed company on the A - share market, which directly holds 75% of the company's shares. Zhou Qunfei, the founder and actual controller of Lens Technology, is the ultimate beneficiary of this company.
On the same day, Dobot officially announced that it had reached a deep strategic cooperation with Lens Technology. According to the cooperation agreement, Lens Technology promised to purchase 1000 embodied intelligent robots from Dobot in 2025.
Meanwhile, based on the continuously deepening strategic mutual trust between the two sides, the agreement clearly states that the cooperation will be continuously deepened in the next three years. Dobot's robots will be given priority consideration in Lens Technology's future production capacity planning and new projects, achieving front - end collaboration from R & D and design to production and application.
Looking back over a longer period, Lens Technology has been very active in the robotics business this year.
In January this year, during a research activity for specific investors, Lens Technology revealed that on January 21st, the company and Zhipu Robotics held a delivery ceremony for the Lingxi X1 humanoid robot package in Changsha, successfully delivering a batch of products related to the Lingxi X1 humanoid robot.
According to Lens Technology, the company was deeply involved in the production, assembly, testing, and control of core components of the Lingxi X1 robot, such as joint modules, DCU controllers, and OmniPicker (grippers).
Relying on its excellent R & D team and top - notch production facilities, the company not only met Zhipu's strict requirements for product quality but also ensured the smooth progress of large - scale mass production, helping Zhipu produce over a thousand robots of various types in 2024.
In addition, Lens Technology also jointly established Hunan Zhiqi Future Technology Co., Ltd. with Zhipu Robotics and made a strategic investment in Zhejiang Zhiding Robotics under Zhipu Robotics, strengthening cooperation at the equity level.
Besides Zhipu Robotics, in June this year, Lens Technology led a nearly 100 - million - yuan Angel + round of financing for the humanoid robot brand Lingbao CASBOT.
Meanwhile, Lens Technology will also provide key components and complete machine assembly support for Lingbao CASBOT, helping it with quality control and cost control and accelerating the mass production of embodied intelligent robots.
In fact, humanoid robots/embodied intelligence, as a highly - regarded concept in recent years, has attracted widespread market attention. Lens Technology's layout in this field is not a short - term decision. As early as 2016, it established an intelligent robot company and began to research, develop, and mass - produce industrial robots, robotic arms, and dexterous hands.
As a company that has long been involved in the robotics field, Lens Technology has a natural first - mover advantage in this track. At a conference call on October 28th, Lens Technology stated that it has now become one of the largest embodied intelligent hardware manufacturing platforms.
Lens Technology revealed that it has successfully entered the supply chains of leading robot companies in North America and China. It is estimated that the company will ship thousands of humanoid robots and over ten thousand quadruped robot dogs this year, and the revenue from the robotics business is initially estimated to be hundreds of millions of yuan.
According to Lens Technology, it has had a decade - long in - depth cooperation with a major North American customer and is its primary core supplier, holding a major share in the intelligent cockpit module market.
As the North American customer's humanoid robot project progresses, the head modules, joint modules, dexterous hands, and other modules developed by Lens Technology have been sent for samples multiple times, and the company is deeply involved in helping the customer develop more product categories such as body structural parts, fully preparing for the product's finalization, mass production, and tendering.
Many securities companies are optimistic about Lens Technology's plan to fully embrace humanoid robots. Haitong International believes that Lens Technology's humanoid robot/AI server business has a promising future and is expected to become a new growth pole.
Industrial Securities also said in a research report on Lens Technology that "the humanoid robot business will have a vast future." Currently, the company has built a vertically integrated platform that includes core components of humanoid robots (such as six - axis force sensors), core modules (such as head modules, joint modules, and dexterous hands), complete machine assembly, and system integration.
Both Revenue and Net Profit Increase in the Third Quarter, Business Adjustment Leads to Decline in Gross Margin
According to Leida Finance, as a one - stop precision manufacturing solution provider for the entire industry chain of new intelligent terminals, Lens Technology has built a diversified business portfolio, mainly covering four major sectors: smartphones and computers, intelligent vehicles and cockpits, intelligent headsets and wearables, and other intelligent terminals.
Among them, the aforementioned humanoid robot business belongs to the company's other intelligent terminals sector. In the first half of the year, this sector achieved a revenue of 364 million yuan, a year - on - year increase of 128.2%, far outpacing other businesses and injecting new vitality into the company's future development.
However, currently, the business volume of this sector is relatively small, accounting for only 1.1% of the total revenue, and its gross margin decreased by 14.8 percentage points compared with the same period last year to 8.15%.
While actively deploying the robotics business, Lens Technology's other main businesses have also maintained a stable development trend.
For example, the company's pillar sector, the smartphone and computer business, achieved a revenue of 27.185 billion yuan in the first half of the year, accounting for as high as 82.48% of the company's total revenue. However, its revenue growth rate of 13.2% ranked last among the four sectors.
During the same period, the intelligent vehicle and cockpit, and intelligent headset and wearable businesses also delivered excellent results, generating revenues of 3.165 billion yuan and 1.647 billion yuan for the company respectively, with year - on - year increases of 16.5% and 14.7% respectively, and accounting for 9.6% and 5% of the total revenue respectively.
At the end of October, Lens Technology released its financial report for the latest quarter. The report shows that in the third quarter, the company achieved a revenue of 20.702 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 19.25%, reaching the highest level in the same period in history; and recorded a net profit attributable to the parent company of 1.7 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 12.62%.
Looking at the first three quarters, the company's revenue increased by 16.08% to 53.663 billion yuan; and its net profit attributable to the parent company also rose by 19.91% to 2.843 billion yuan.
However, behind the performance growth, Lens Technology also faces certain challenges. In the third quarter, the company's gross margin was 19.09%, a year - on - year decrease of more than 2 percentage points.
In response, the company explained in a conference call that the slight year - on - year decline in the gross margin was mainly due to the change in the business structure, that is, the increased proportion of the relatively low - gross - margin complete machine assembly business, which pulled down the overall gross margin level.
But Lens Technology emphasized that complete machine assembly is a strategic measure for the company to drive the sales of its high - gross - margin self - developed structural parts and functional modules. The gross margins of the company's structural parts, functional modules, and products in intelligent vehicles and wearables have generally remained stable.
Lens Technology believes that as customers enter a new innovation cycle and new products use more new materials and processes, the company's product gross margin will increase, and the overall gross margin is expected to continue to improve.
From a "Factory Girl" to the Richest Person in Hunan, with a Latest Net Worth of 110 Billion
Lens Technology's ability to steadily develop its main business, actively explore a second growth curve, and win the favor of the capital market is all thanks to its self - made founder, Zhou Qunfei.
In 1970, Zhou Qunfei was born in a village in Xiangxiang, Hunan. Her childhood was overshadowed by hardship and misfortune.
Before her birth, her father lost two fingers and almost went blind in an accident, plunging the already poor family into deeper distress.
When she was five years old, her mother committed suicide under the heavy pressure of the family, leaving behind three young children, and Zhou Qunfei was the youngest daughter.
In such a difficult living environment, young Zhou Qunfei took on the burden of life at an early age. Despite the hardships, her father never gave up on her education.
However, the harsh reality of life forced Zhou Qunfei to drop out of school. After leaving school, she went to Guangdong and entered Aoya Optics, a factory producing watch glass, starting her career as a migrant worker, which also became a turning point in her life.
In a TV interview later, when the host asked Zhou Qunfei how she viewed her success, she didn't answer directly but simply emphasized, "I do what I should do without leaving any regrets."
During her time at Aoya Optics, she worked hard in the factory during the day and attended evening classes at an adult education school run by Shenzhen University at night. While working, she also obtained an accounting certificate, a computer operator certificate, a customs declaration certificate, and a Class B driver's license. She even found time to open a clothing store.
In 1990, Aoya Optics planned to expand, but the boss decided to withdraw the investment when the factory building was half - built. At this critical moment, Zhou Qunfei stepped forward and volunteered, "If it succeeds, you can set my salary; if it fails, I'll work for you for the rest of my life!" Moved by her courage and determination, the boss decided to give her a chance.
After the factory was completed and put into operation, Zhou Qunfei lived up to expectations. She applied the screen - printing technology she had learned on her own to her work and successfully turned the factory into the most profitable one in the company.
However, due to differences in business philosophy with the boss, Zhou Qunfei finally decided to start her own business.
In 1993, at the age of 23, Zhou Qunfei used her savings and started a difficult entrepreneurial journey with several relatives in a three - bedroom apartment. They continued to engage in screen - printing business in the form of a "family workshop."
In 1997, the Asian financial crisis hit. Some customers who were short of funds gave their old equipment to Zhou Qunfei as payment for processing fees. Later, she bought several grinding machines and profiling machines, established a complete production line for watch glass by integrating processes such as glass cutting, edge trimming, polishing, screen - printing, and coating.
After entering the new century, by chance, Zhou Qunfei started producing mobile phone window glass through a friend. In 2003, she founded Shenzhen Lens Technology Co., Ltd. in Shenzhen.
Later, Zhou Qunfei received a call from an executive of Motorola, asking if she was willing to develop a glass screen for their new mobile phone, the Razr V3. She readily agreed. Soon after, orders from other mobile phone manufacturers such as HTC, Nokia, and Samsung also poured in.
However, the most influential customer for Lens Technology is Apple. The "mutual attraction" between Apple and Lens Technology can be traced back to 2007. At that time, Lens Technology passed Apple's supplier certification and became the processing manufacturer of the touch - screen glass for the first - generation iPhone.
After hitching a ride with Apple, Lens Technology's revenue skyrocketed from less than 1 billion yuan to over 17 billion yuan in 2015.
Also in 2015, Lens Technology successfully listed on the A - share capital market, and Zhou Qunfei became the richest woman in China with a net worth of 50 billion yuan.
The halo of being the richest woman didn't go to Zhou Qunfei's head. She knew that over - relying on Apple could put Lens Technology in a passive position at any time.
So, she actively adjusted the strategy and introduced orders from other companies to reduce the company's dependence on Apple. By 2024, the sales revenue from Apple accounted for less than half of Lens Technology's total revenue.
However, the far - sighted Zhou Qunfei was still worried because the growth of the global smartphone market has been slowing down in recent years, and the company's mobile phone business accounted for a relatively high proportion. To find new growth points, Zhou Qunfei turned her attention to new energy vehicle manufacturers and provided supporting hardware services for intelligent vehicles and cockpits.
Currently, intelligent vehicle and cockpit products have become the company's second - largest revenue source. In the first half of this year, this sector recorded a revenue of 3.165 billion yuan, accounting for nearly 10% of the total revenue.
Now, after expanding into other businesses such as intelligent headsets and wearables, Zhou Qunfei has set her sights on artificial intelligence and humanoid robots in the AI wave.
In the recently released "Hurun Rich List 2025", Zhou Qunfei and her husband Zheng Junlong became the richest people in Hunan with a net worth of 111 billion yuan, a fortune that soared by 47.5 billion yuan compared with last year.
From a small workshop in an apartment to a giant with a market value of hundreds of billions, from a migrant worker girl to the richest person in Hunan, with the help of the robotics business, can Zhou Qunfei lead Lens Technology, a giant with a market value of hundreds of billions, to the next performance peak? Leida Finance will continue to follow up.