Hikvision returns to Zhejiang’s top three as Bank of Ningbo leads profits

  • Bank of Bank and Bank of Hangzhou retained the top two spots among Zhejiang’s most profitable listed companies in the first half, while Hikvision made a comeback
  • Hikvision’s accelerating AI business is giving investors a new growth story beyond traditional security hardware

Bank of Ningbo reported 16.56 billion yuan ($2.46 billion) in net profit for the first half of this year, up 12.12% from a year earlier, returning to double-digit growth after two years.

That works out to roughly 91.5 million yuan in profit a day, or 63,500 yuan a minute.

The result kept Bank of Ningbo at the top of Zhejiang’s most profitable listed companies by first-half earnings. Bank of Hangzhou ranked second, with net profit rising 10.1% to 6.83 billion yuan.

The bigger change came at No. 3, where Hikvision returned to the ranking for the first time in five years.

The security-camera maker posted 7.90 billion yuan in net profit, up 39.57%, marking one of its strongest growth rates in nearly a decade.

A pivot to AI

The rebound reflects a broader shift in Hikvision’s growth model. Its Guanlan large language model now covers more than 90 industry verticals, while revenue from its innovative businesses exceeded 32% of total revenue.

That is giving investors a reason to view Hikvision as more than a traditional hardware company.

Its shares outperformed many Zhejiang-listed peers in the first half, suggesting that the market is increasingly pricing in the potential of its AI-plus-security strategy.

For Zhejiang’s listed companies, the reshuffling offers a telling contrast: banks continue to dominate the profit rankings by scale, while Hikvision is using AI to reopen a growth story in a mature hardware business.

Header image credit: Bank of Ningbo