Net profit soars by 50 times! This couple's net worth stabilizes at 30 billion

Ask AI · Why Has the Counter-Cyclical Strategy of the Tech Couple Been Successful?

Produced by | Reading Business Era

Edited by | Li Xiaoyan

In the “2025 Hurun Top Rich List,” Li Hu and Tian Hua, a couple from Yueyang, just entered the top 847 nationwide with a net worth of 8.5 billion yuan, but if we forecast this year’s list, their ranking is likely to see a significant leap—driven by the simultaneous explosion of Demingli’s performance and market value, this tech couple’s wealth is experiencing exponential growth.

Over the past year, Demingli used a set of highly impactful data to complete a switch from the bottom to the peak: in the first quarter of 2025, it still posted a loss of nearly 70 million yuan, but by the first quarter of 2026, net profit soared to between 3.15 billion and 3.65 billion yuan, a year-over-year increase of up to 5,383%, with quarterly profit equivalent to five times that of the entire 2025 year. Meanwhile, on April 7, the company’s stock price rose 7.43% to 378.18 yuan, with a total market value surpassing 85.7 billion yuan, and a cumulative three-year increase of over 13 times.

From the external environment perspective, the certainty of industry prosperity is the biggest incentive for Demingli’s stock price surge. On that day, global storage giant Samsung officially announced that in Q2 2026, DRAM contract prices would increase by about 100% in Q1 and then be raised again by 30%, covering all categories including HBM, server storage, PCs, and mobile phones. Currently, the world’s three major storage manufacturers are continuously reducing production, with reductions of 15%-20%, while shifting capacity focus toward high-end AI storage fields. Meanwhile, demand benefits from the explosive growth of the AI industry, with AI server storage demand per unit being 5 to 12 times that of ordinary servers, completely reversing the supply-demand pattern in the storage industry. Inventory levels are at a historic low of about four weeks, and the entire storage chip sector is collectively strengthening.

However, without internal capabilities to support this, cyclical dividends are hard to translate into profit explosions. Demingli’s performance leap is inseparable from the combined effect of “bottom positioning + structural upgrading”: on one hand, the company completed low-cost stocking during the industry downturn, releasing considerable profit margins during the price upcycle; on the other hand, self-developed main control chips achieved mass production, enterprise storage products expanded, successfully penetrating the core link of AI computing power supply chains, and the profit model shifted from a trade-oriented approach to one driven by technology.

Demingli’s comeback is no accident. In 2008, when Li Hu and Tian Hua founded Demingli in Shenzhen, the domestic market for storage main control chips was almost monopolized by overseas manufacturers, and local companies had long remained in low-value-added segments. Li Hu, a graduate of Xi’an University of Electronic Science and Technology with a major in electromagnetic fields and microwave technology, teamed up with a chip industry veteran Tian Hua to choose a more difficult path—avoiding simple trade and quick profits, instead betting on the high ground of main control chip technology.

The subsequent development rhythm almost revolved around this main line: Demingli established R&D centers, promoted mass production of main control chips, and extended into enterprise storage, with each step pointing toward technological depth. This steadfastness, often inconspicuous in the industry’s cyclical ups and downs, became a critical variable in survival during downturns. Around 2023, the storage industry entered a deep adjustment period, with prices plummeting, demand shrinking, and many companies eliminated. Demingli also experienced a period of performance decline. But the company did not shrink back; instead, it continued to invest in R&D and core capacity, even using asset mortgages to ensure operations, and persisted in advancing high-end products and customer validation. The annual report shows that in 2025, R&D investment reached 292 million yuan, a 43.54% increase year-over-year.

When the industry reversed in the second half of 2025, this “counter-cyclical investment” quickly proved its value. Demingli’s mass production capacity for main control chips and its high-end customer base allowed it to immediately meet the new demands brought by AI, achieving simultaneous growth in orders and profits. By the end of 2025, the company held 394 patents, with a R&D team of over 400 people, and continuous high growth in R&D investment, with technological accumulation ultimately supporting profit explosion.

The capital market responded with valuation feedback. Currently, the company’s market value has surpassed 85 billion yuan, with its stock price rising over 13 times in three years. Demingli has risen from a marginal participant to a core stock in the storage sector; the founders’ wealth has also increased in tandem. In terms of equity structure, Li Hu directly owns 35.00% of the company, Tian Hua indirectly owns about 0.29%, and together they hold 35.29%. Based on the current market value, their net worth has already exceeded 30 billion yuan.

Of course, the cyclical nature of the storage industry remains, and price fluctuations and AI demand rhythms will continue to influence performance. But over a longer cycle, Demingli has completed a key transformation: shifting from relying on cyclical fluctuations for profits to developing the ability to amplify profits within cycles.