Changjin Photonics rushes to list on the STAR Market: Supported by Hubble Investment and China Mobile Fund, customer competition concerns remain to be addressed

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每经记者｜陈晴 每经编辑｜魏文艺

On March 27, Wuhan Changjin Photon Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Changjin Photon”) will face a major test for its IPO (initial public offering) on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board.

Changjin Photon is a specialty optical fiber manufacturer, led by Professor Li Jinyan from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, with shareholders including Hubble Investment and China Mobile’s Zhongyi Fund. The prospectus (meeting draft) (hereinafter referred to as “prospectus”) shows that from 2023 to 2025 (hereinafter referred to as “reporting period”), Changjin Photon’s revenue and net profit will continue to grow.

However, reporters from the Daily Economic News (hereinafter referred to as “Daily Economic News reporters”) noticed that the long-standing intertwining of “industry-university-research” between Changjin Photon and Huazhong University of Science and Technology has raised doubts about its independent R&D capabilities. Additionally, several core customers also possess self-production capabilities, further exposing the company to potential risks of “customers becoming competitors.” Furthermore, with core product prices continuously declining and profit margins under pressure, Changjin Photon’s profitability resilience is being tested.

Founded in 2012, Changjin Photon’s actual controller and chairman, Li Jinyan, graduated from the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and has worked at FiberHome Technologies and FiberHome Tencar. Since November 2008, he has long served as a professor and doctoral supervisor at the Wuhan National Research Center for Optoelectronics of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

Currently, Li Jinyan indirectly holds 17.93% of Changjin Photon through Changhexin, Zhiyuan No. 1, and Zhiyuan No. 2, and controls 35.84% of the voting rights of the company. To further consolidate his control, Li Jinyan also signed a concerted action agreement with the company’s director and general manager Liu Changbo, collectively controlling 43.12% of the voting rights of Changjin Photon.

As a senior expert in the field of specialty optical fibers, Li Jinyan’s academic reputation has provided important backing for the company’s early development, but the blurred boundary with Huazhong University of Science and Technology has also raised doubts from the outside. The prospectus shows that Li Jinyan and the company’s director, deputy general manager, and financial head Li Haiqing have long held dual positions in universities and enterprises, and the two have entrusted Wang Shanzhen and Liu Changbo to hold company shares on their behalf. In addition, staff members from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Xing Yingbin and Peng Jinggang, have also served as consultants for Changjin Photon.

It wasn’t until July 2025 that Li Jinyan completed the procedures for leaving his post to start a business. In the same month, Li Haiqing left Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Xing Yingbin and Peng Jinggang ceased to serve part-time at Changjin Photon starting from June 2024.

The ownership boundary of research results is also sensitive. By the end of 2025, Changjin Photon holds 37 invention patents, of which 12 were transferred from Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

In this regard, regulatory authorities sent inquiries, requiring Changjin Photon to clarify its specific circumstances of utilizing scientific and technological achievements from Huazhong University of Science and Technology since its establishment and the relationship with the transferred invention patents, and to analyze whether there are effective measures to avoid technical disputes based on the part-time shareholding situation of Huazhong University of Science and Technology’s staff in the company.

On March 25, Changjin Photon responded to the Daily Economic News reporters, stating that the company attaches great importance to the construction of independent R&D capabilities. On one hand, the relevant patent transfers have gone through necessary legal procedures, are legal and compliant, and there are no disputes over property rights. On the other hand, from 2023 to 2025, the company’s cumulative R&D investment exceeded 84 million yuan, accounting for about 14% of revenue, forming a core technology system that is self-controllable.

Regarding the issue of university employment, Changjin Photon stated that the relevant personnel’s employment strictly complies with relevant laws and regulations, university regulations, and the “Articles of Association.” The company has established a sound governance structure to ensure the independence of operational decisions, and there is no situation of illegal transfer of university position results.

After more than ten years of development, Changjin Photon has gathered a luxurious lineup of shareholders. Zhongyi Fund and Hubble Investment hold 5.26% and 3.80% of shares respectively, ranking as the sixth and seventh largest shareholders of the company; the Sci-Tech Innovation Board listed company Jepter holds 12.24%, making it the second-largest shareholder.

However, the dual identity of Changjin Photon’s shareholders and customers has made the fairness of related party transactions a focal point. Jepter is not only the second-largest shareholder of the company but also remains one of the top five core customers during the reporting period, with sales accounting for over 9%. During the reporting period, the company applied for an exemption from information disclosure for the price comparison of the same products sold to Jepter and unrelated third parties. However, the company admitted that the majority of the products sold to Jepter had unit prices lower than those sold to unrelated third parties.

In response, Changjin Photon told the Daily Economic News reporters that the cooperation with Jepter is based on real commercial background and necessity. Jepter has a demand for the localization of core raw material specialty optical fibers, and the company is one of the few domestic manufacturers capable of stably supplying high-performance, multi-category specialty optical fibers, making the cooperation a result of mutual market selection.

Regarding pricing, Changjin Photon stated that the transaction pricing with Jepter follows market principles and is consistent with the pricing mechanism for other non-related customers, all of which are negotiated based on factors such as purchasing scale, product model, and cooperation history, without any bias in interests. The company has followed the required review procedures to ensure compliance with related party transactions.

A greater concern is that Changjin Photon’s major customers could become competitors at any time. Chuangxin Laser and Ruike Laser are both core customers of Changjin Photon, ranking as the first and second largest customers of the company in 2023 and 2025 respectively. In 2025, the revenue from these two customers accounted for 33.58% of Changjin Photon’s total revenue. Additionally, Changfei Fiber’s subsidiary Changfei Guangfang is also a customer of Changjin Photon.

However, Chuangxin Laser, Ruike Laser, and Changfei Guangfang all have the capability to produce rare-earth doped optical fibers. Chuangxin Laser has been known to procure specialty optical fibers from Changfei Guangfang, while Changfei Guangfang, after achieving self-supply capability, has started to reduce its procurement scale from Changjin Photon. Furthermore, several companies are procuring from Changjin Photon while also sourcing from Wuhan Ruixin, a subsidiary of Ruike Laser, or from Changfei Guangfang.

In response, Changjin Photon explained that it has formed long-term stable strategic partnerships with core customers based on advantages in R&D technology, talent teams, customer resources, and mass production processes. However, the company also admitted in the prospectus that if Ruike Laser further increases its self-supply ratio, Chuangxin Laser expands its own production capacity to replace external procurement, or other downstream laser manufacturers turn to self-supply, it will reduce the market space for independent third-party manufacturers, including the company.

During the reporting period, Changjin Photon’s performance grew rapidly, with revenue increasing from approximately 145 million yuan in 2023 to about 247 million yuan in 2025; net profit increased from about 54.66 million yuan to about 95.64 million yuan.

The Daily Economic News reporters noticed that behind what seems like good performance, Changjin Photon faces serious issues of “single product structure” and “concentrated application fields”—the revenue from rare-earth doped optical fibers has consistently accounted for more than 85%; downstream applications are concentrated in advanced manufacturing and optical communication, with the two accounting for over 80% of total revenue. This “putting all eggs in one basket” business model makes the company sensitive to fluctuations in a single industry cycle.

More critically, the prices of Changjin Photon’s core products are experiencing a decline. The main product, Yb-doped optical fiber, contributed over 40% of revenue during the reporting period. The average sales price of this product in 2025 has fallen nearly 20% compared to 2023, down to 19.93 yuan/meter.

Additionally, during the reporting period, Changjin Photon’s revenue from Er-doped optical fibers was 17.19 million yuan, 44.42 million yuan, and 34.74 million yuan respectively, with revenue proportions of 11.89%, 23.18%, and 14.14%. However, the price fluctuations of Er-doped optical fibers are even more severe, with the average price in 2025 plummeting by 21.19% year-on-year to 29.53 yuan/meter. The prospectus attributes this price decline to “normal price adjustments based on cost reduction demands in the supply chain for mature products.”

For upstream material suppliers, “volume increase” should be a positive factor, but coupled with price drops, it means the company is losing pricing power. As industry competition intensifies, downstream laser manufacturers are continuously lowering costs to capture market share, and this pressure will inevitably be transmitted to upstream optical fiber suppliers.

The decline in profitability has already shown signs. Although Changjin Photon has a high gross margin, its main business gross margin has decreased from 69.31% in 2023 to 65.06% in 2025, a drop of over 4 percentage points. Meanwhile, the company’s revenue growth rate has declined from 32.58% in 2024 to 28.79% in 2025.

For the first quarter of 2026, Changjin Photon expects revenue growth of 16% to 23% year-on-year, but the year-on-year growth rate of net profit attributable to shareholders is only expected to be 2.49% to 8.02%. The company explained that this is mainly affected by the Spring Festival holiday and adjustments in customer procurement rhythms. In the face of price decline pressures, Changjin Photon stated that it will enhance its bargaining power and profitability stability through continuous technological innovation, optimizing product structure, deepening localization, reducing costs, expanding application fields, and developing new growth points.

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Cover image source: Daily Economic News Media Library