Ecovacs Q3 profit falls 72% on memory chip costs as Roborock grows 33%
Ecovacs said in its Q3 report on Oct 31 that net profit fell 72.43% to RMB 120.9m on revenue up 10.61% to RMB 4.65bn, blaming sharply higher memory chip prices and a stronger yuan. Rival Roborock reported Q3 revenue up 34.85% to RMB 5.61bn and net profit up 33.01% to RMB 479.2m, helped by US tariff refunds.
MEKAWIRE's comparison of the two filings shows Roborock has overtaken Ecovacs on nine-month revenue.
China's two listed robot-vacuum makers filed third-quarter reports on Oct 31 that point in opposite directions. Ecovacs Robotics said net profit attributable to shareholders fell 72.43% year on year to RMB 120.9m in the quarter, even as revenue rose 10.61% to RMB 4.65bn. Roborock, filing the same day, reported revenue up 34.85% to RMB 5.61bn and net profit up 33.01% to RMB 479.2m.
The gap matters beyond two stock prices. Ecovacs is the first major robot maker to put a number on what the 2026 surge in memory prices is doing to consumer robots, which need DRAM and flash for mapping, vision and on-device AI. The question is whether this is an Ecovacs problem or a sector cost that Roborock is simply masking for now.
What Ecovacs blamed
Ecovacs said in the report that its gross margin fell because purchase prices of memory chips rose significantly year on year and the yuan kept strengthening. Pre-tax profit dropped 81.38% to RMB 78.8m. Profit after non-recurring items, the cleaner measure of the core business, fell 46.77% to RMB 225.8m. The remaining hit came from listed investments: the company booked a fair-value loss of RMB 145.6m on financial assets in the quarter, which it linked to recent market swings.
Over nine months Ecovacs revenue rose 16.39% to RMB 14.99bn while net profit slipped 3.47% to RMB 1.37bn. By MEKAWIRE's calculation from the income statement, nine-month gross margin was 45.8%, down from 49.7% a year earlier. Operating cash flow turned negative at minus RMB 342.0m, which the company attributed to last year's collection of large national subsidy receivables and to stocking memory and other semiconductor parts in advance. Inventory stood at RMB 5.41bn on Sep 30, up 66.3% from the end of 2025.
The board also approved on Oct 29 a share buyback of RMB 150m to 200m at no more than RMB 72.49 a share, for an employee share plan, according to a separate filing.
- Q3 revenue (RMB m)
- 4,646.7
- +10.61%
- 5,614.4
- +34.85%
- Q3 net profit to shareholders (RMB m)
- 120.9
- -72.43%
- 479.2
- +33.01%
- Q3 recurring net profit (RMB m)
- 225.8
- -46.77%
- 402.6
- +20.25%
- Q3 net margin (MEKAWIRE calc.)
- 2.6%
- about 10.4% a year earlier
- 8.5%
- about 8.7% a year earlier
- 9M revenue (RMB m)
- 14,987.6
- +16.39%
- 15,698.8
- +30.10%
- 9M net profit to shareholders (RMB m)
- 1,368.7
- -3.47%
- 1,465.6
- +41.23%
- 9M gross margin (MEKAWIRE calc.)
- 45.8%
- 49.7% a year earlier
- 42.1%
- 43.7% a year earlier
- 9M R&D (RMB m)
- 800.9
- +12.55%
- 1,044.8
- +1.65%
- Inventory, Sep 30 (RMB m)
- 5,410.2
- +66.3% vs Dec 31
- 6,262.9
- +135.9% vs Dec 31
- 9M operating cash flow (RMB m)
- -342.0
- -117.42%
- -301.7
- n/a
Source: Ecovacs (SSE 603486) and Roborock (SSE STAR 688169) 2026 third-quarter reports, published Oct 31, 2026, unaudited. Gross margin = (revenue minus cost of sales) / revenue; net margin = net profit to shareholders / revenue; prior-year Q3 figures backed out from the reported growth rates.
As of Oct 31, 2026
How Roborock grew through the same market
Roborock's report credits deeper global expansion and rising market share abroad for the revenue jump, and lower expense ratios for the profit growth. A second factor is visible in the notes: its subsidiary Roborock Technology Co. had received USD 39.88m (RMB 273.3m) of refunds of US tariffs levied under IEEPA by Sep 30, of which RMB 213.8m was booked in nine-month profit. That equals 14.6% of Roborock's nine-month net profit of RMB 1.47bn, by MEKAWIRE's calculation.
Roborock does not mention memory prices, but its margins also eased. Nine-month gross margin was 42.1%, against 43.7% a year earlier, and Q3 net margin was 8.5%, slightly below about 8.7% a year ago. Its inventory more than doubled to RMB 6.26bn, and Q3 operating cash flow was minus RMB 699.6m, which the company put down to stock building and payment timing.
MEKAWIRE analysis
Memory inflation is a sector cost, and Roborock's tariff refunds and faster growth are absorbing it for now while Ecovacs takes it straight to the bottom line.
The evidence is in the filings. Both companies lost gross margin, and both built inventory fast, Roborock by 135.9% and Ecovacs by 66.3% since December, the pattern of buyers locking in components before prices rise further. The leadership has also changed. A year ago Ecovacs led on nine-month revenue, RMB 12.88bn against RMB 12.07bn. This year Roborock leads, RMB 15.70bn against RMB 14.99bn, and in Q3 alone by almost RMB 1bn.
The counter-argument is that Ecovacs's quarter was distorted by one-off investment losses and a currency effect that could reverse. Recurring profit still fell by nearly half, though, so the cost pressure is real.
The pair also matters for the rest of the home-robot field covered in our consumer home robots explainer, from iRobot, now owned by PICEA, to newer humanoid makers that will need far more memory per unit. See the Ecovacs and Roborock profiles for both companies.
What would change our view: a Q4 in which Ecovacs's gross margin stabilises without price increases, or a Roborock quarter that shows the same margin squeeze once tariff refunds stop. Signals to watch are the two companies' 2026 annual reports, any retail price changes before the Nov 11 shopping festival, and Ecovacs's first buyback progress notice.
- Roborock RMB 15.70bn vs Ecovacs RMB 14.99bn
- RMB 150m to 200m, for an employee share plan
- RMB 4.65bn, up 10.61%
- RMB 5.61bn, up 34.85%
- Higher memory chip prices and a stronger yuan cut gross margin
- RMB 120.9m, down 72.43%
- RMB 479.2m, up 33.01%
- USD 39.88m received; RMB 213.8m booked in 9M profit