(Yicai) Aug. 10 -- Shares in Cambricon Technologies continued to slide today, despite the Chinese artificial intelligence startup reporting that both net profit and revenue more than doubled in the first six months.

Cambricon’s share price [SHA: 688256] closed down 6.3 percent at CNY1,124 (USD166). The stock reached a peak of CNY1,620 (USD240) on June 30, from a low of CNY658.72 (USD97) on March 31, making it the first stock on Shanghai’s Star Market to surpass a market capitalization of CNY1 trillion (USD148.2 billion). Since then, the share price has retreated to its current level.

Demand for artificial intelligence computing power continued to rise steadily in the first half, the Beijing-based firm said on Aug. 7. Cambricon strengthened cooperation with leading companies in the financial and internet sectors and sought to expand its market through large-scale applications.

Net profit soared 122.6 percent in the first half from a year earlier to CNY2.3 billion (USD341 million), while revenue jumped 108.1 percent to CNY6 billion (USD890 million), it said.

In the first quarter, Cambricon’s net profit surged 185 percent year on year to CNY1 billion (USD148.2 million) while revenue soared 159.5 percent to CNY2.8 billion (USD415.1 million).

In the second quarter, the firm’s net profit jumped 28.1 percent from the previous quarter and 90 percent year on year to CNY1.3 billion, while revenue climbed 7.8 percent quarter on quarter and 75.9 percent from the year before to CNY3.1 billion.

While Cambricon's net profit and revenue continued to grow in the second quarter from the previous quarter, the pace of year-on-year growth slowed.

Cambricon spent CNY703 million (USD100 million) on research and development in the first half, a jump of 29.6 percent from the year before, it said. R&D expenditure accounted for 11.7 percent of the revenue, a drop of 7 percentage points from the same period last year.

Editor: Kim Taylor