Cambricon sets a $14.8 billion revenue goal for its 2026 stock incentive plan — a 20x leap from its previous target

Chinese artificial intelligence chip champion Cambricon Technologies has unveiled a 2026 employee stock incentive plan that sets an ambitious three-year cumulative revenue target of 100 billion yuan (US$14.8 billion) — roughly 20 times larger than the target in its previous 2023 plan [6, 5]. The plan covers more than 85% of the company's workforce and is designed to lock in key talent as China races to build domestic AI chip capabilities under US export restrictions [6, 51].

Revenue targets: 2026–2028

The plan's performance milestones are structured across three years :

• 2026: Annual revenue must be at least 13.5 billion yuan.
• 2026–2027 cumulative: At least 40.5 billion yuan.
• 2026–2028 cumulative: At least 100 billion yuan (US$14.8 billion).

The new target represents a nearly 20-fold increase from the previous 2023 incentive plan, which aimed for approximately 4.6 billion yuan in cumulative revenue over 2024–2026 [6, 5]. This dramatic jump reflects the company's explosive growth: Cambricon reported 2025 annual revenue of about 6.5 billion yuan, up 453% year-over-year, and posted its first annual profit ever [13, 5].

Workforce coverage and structure

The 2026 plan grants 5 million restricted shares — equivalent to 0.8% of total share capital — at a grant price of 750 yuan per share, with a total value of roughly 5.7 billion yuan at the latest stock price [6, 8].

Approximately 945 employees are eligible, divided into three categories :

• 245 new participants not included in the 2023 plan.
• 692 participants who also received grants under the 2023 plan.
• 6 senior executives.

This coverage — more than 85% of Cambricon's total workforce — signals a broad-based retention strategy in a fiercely competitive domestic chip talent market [8, 5].