An outdoor brand whose chip business contributes more than one-third of total revenue, with a growth rate of 206%. This is not a cross-industry experiment but a strategic reconstruction that Toread has completed over five years. In Q1 2026, Toread's chip business achieved main revenue of RMB 179 million, jumping to 36.09% of total revenue, driving overall company revenue up 39.41% to RMB 496 million.
The Logic Behind the Data
The high-speed growth of the chip first curve directly validates the effectiveness of Toread's 'outdoor + chip' dual-mainstay strategy established in 2021. The net profit attributable to the parent company excluding non-recurring gains and losses in Q1 was RMB 63.94 million, a substantial year-on-year increase of 32.36%, indicating that growth is not supported by one-time gains. Huaxi Securities forecasts net profits attributable to the parent company for 2025-2027 at RMB 237 million, 369 million, and 454 million respectively, while CICC has raised its 2026 revenue forecast by 29% to RMB 1.952 billion and EPS forecast by 60% to RMB 0.15. The positive ratings from institutions reflect market recognition of the industrialization of Toread's chip business.
For the textile industry, Toread's case signals a broader trend: traditional consumer goods companies are internalizing chip capabilities as a core barrier to product differentiation through M&A and in-house R&D. This aligns with the path taken by sportswear brands in recent years to enter the smart wearables space, but Toread goes deeper by directly engaging in chip design rather than simply purchasing chips.
Technological Breakthrough: Industry Significance of Full-Stack Compression
The strategic signing between Shanghai Tongtu and Horizon Robotics is a key move in the industrialization of Toread's chip technology. The two parties will jointly develop large model bandwidth compression technology, directly addressing the bandwidth and memory bottlenecks in edge-side AI deployment—the most critical constraint when moving large models from the cloud to terminals like phones, cars, and robots.
Tongtu's three-layer compression system is noteworthy:
- Input data layer: can compress large-capacity data like video to 1/5 of its original size
- Intermediate state layer: achieves an additional 50% compression on top of Google's achievements
- Model parameter layer: can compress billion-level parameter models by 30% without retraining
This technological path is highly consistent with Google's TurboQuant memory compression algorithm, validating 'liberating computing power through compression' as a deterministic industry direction. For smart equipment suppliers in the textile industry, this means that chip solutions for future products like exoskeletons and smart shoes will no longer be constrained by the balance between computing power and power consumption, potentially shortening product iteration cycles.
Dual-Mainstay Synergy: From Chip to End Product
Since 2021, Toread has successively acquired five chip-related companies, building a chip product matrix covering the entire chain of 'perception-interaction-display'. The direct output of this layout is the smart exoskeleton Crest C3, which began pre-sales during the 618 shopping festival—weighing only 1.8 kg with a thrust-to-weight ratio of 10:1, and achieving daily sales of over 100 units on Tmall. The full-chain self-controllability from underlying chips to end products is transforming from a strategic description into quantifiable market performance.
For textile foreign trade enterprises, this trend sends a clear signal: the traditional OEM model is being replaced by a composite supply chain of 'chips + fabrics + intelligence'. Suppliers capable of providing integrated chip module smart textiles will take the lead in future competition.