{"text":[[{"start":6.85,"text":"For years, medical AI has generated plenty of excitement but has struggled to show it can make money. That situation may be starting to change, as one Chinese provider of healthcare technology prepares to mark an earnings milestone."}],[{"start":21.7,"text":"Yidu Tech Inc. (2158.HK) announced on April 20 it expects to post the first annual profit in its 11-year history, potentially marking an inflection point for the broader AI-powered healthcare sector."}],[{"start":36.15,"text":"The supplier of big data and tech solutions for the medical sector projected a net profit of between 41 million yuan and 56 million yuan ($6 million and $8.2 million) for its financial year to the end of March, rebounding from a loss of around 118 million yuan in the previous year."}],[{"start":55.5,"text":"In explaining the turnaround, the company cited a surge in new orders as it integrates AI into its products, driving higher gross margins, as well as better operating efficiency and economies of scale."}],[{"start":67.5,"text":"It was clear from Yidu Tech’s half-year earnings that the firm was heading towards breakeven. Revenues for the six months to end-September rose 8.7% to 358 million yuan, reversing a contraction in the year-earlier period. Gross margin rose to 37.4%. from 35.6% while operating losses narrowed by 71% to 15.71 million yuan and net losses shrank 72% to 15.76 million yuan."}],[{"start":99.2,"text":"Those interim results showed that growth was increasingly being driven by application-based solutions for hospitals and payment systems, rather than pharmaceutical services."}],[{"start":109.5,"text":"Half-year revenue from the company’s big data platform and solutions grew 14.6% year on year, while income from the health management segment jumped 30.3%. In contrast, life sciences solutions for pharmaceutical companies slipped 4.4%. In terms of the revenue mix, the big data platform business remains the largest contributor to the top line."}],[{"start":133.05,"text":"As the AI momentum shifts from large models to real-world deployment, investors are increasingly focused on whether the technology can be embedded into workflows to generate returns. In healthcare, that would mean integrating artificial intelligence into clinical care, research or payment systems."}],[{"start":153,"text":"Few Chinese AI healthcare companies have so far crossed the profit threshold. For example, iFlytek Healthcare (2506.HK) focuses on primary care and voice interaction scenarios. It has expanded rapidly through standardized tools yet still reported a loss of 64.79 million yuan in 2025. Airdoc Technology (2251.HK) concentrates on single-point applications such as retinal image recognition with a relatively clear but limited business model, leaving it with a loss of 24.97 million yuan last year."}],[{"start":187.9,"text":"Yidu Tech has taken a different path. In its early stages, the company developed medical platforms and disease-specific databases, building a large pool of structured data and a wide base of hospital clients. More recently it has shifted from simply providing information to participating in healthcare decisions through products such as a clinical Copilot and an evidence-based AI agent."}],[{"start":213.5,"text":"These tools appear to be finding their way into clinical workflows, according to usage data contained in the half-year earnings report, with some hospitals reported to be accessing them nearly 1,000 times a day. Such high-frequency uptake could be the key to generating stable returns from the business of AI-powered healthcare."}],[{"start":232.75,"text":"Meanwhile, the company has demonstrated scalability in serving more than 10,000 medical institutions and partnering with over 100 top-tier hospitals. However, a correlation between wide take-up and monetary returns has yet to be clearly established."}],[{"start":249.3,"text":"Uncertain outlook"}],[{"start":251.45000000000002,"text":"Revenue growth remains in the single digits, with no clear sign of acceleration. Based on the outline figures for full year, it is hard to determine how sustainable the profits will be. Moreover, the adoption of healthcare AI is highly dependent on hospital procurement cycles and supportive government policies, affecting the pace and scope of expansion."}],[{"start":272.40000000000003,"text":"The company could still be in a transitional stage in which its business model is taking shape but remains unproven. Yidu Tech’s earnings breakthrough shows that AI healthcare can be monetized in specific scenarios, but it may not be sustainable or replicated across the whole sector."}],[{"start":288.90000000000003,"text":"Still, the profit projection lifted the company’s shares. After the announcement, the stock rose 3.8% to close at HK$6.3, for a year-to-date gain of 18.4%. Yidu Tech is trading at a price-to-sales ratio of about 7.5 times, broadly in line with iFlytek Healthcare at around 8 times and Airdoc Technology at about 6 times. This suggests investors are still basing their valuation on revenue scale and growth potential, rather than profitability."}],[{"start":318.8,"text":"If Yidu Tech can stay in the black over the next few quarters and accelerate its revenue growth, the stock may have room to rise. But if profits falter, the valuation may have already peaked out."}],[{"start":340.85,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1777033629_1674.mp3"}