ACM Research's $2.5 Billion Backlog Comes With Fine Print and an October 28 Test

Born in Shanghai, furnished in Fremont

ACM Research (ACMR) filed an 8-K on 30 September 2026↗ with a single exhibit: a press release relaying that its operating subsidiary, ACM Research (Shanghai), had posted backlog data on the Shanghai Stock Exchange website↗ ¹. The order book stood at RMB 17.1 billion, about $2.5 billion, as of 29 September, up 88.2% from the prior year's disclosed figure ². A year earlier the same exercise reported RMB 9,071.5 million, itself up 34.1% ³.

The Nasdaq parent holds 74.6% of the subsidiary, which trades on the STAR Market as 688082 ⁴. The order book behind a Fremont-headquartered Nasdaq stock is published first in China.

What an order book holds when it is not revenue

The release's own fine print does the auditing. Backlog mixes tools already shipped but not yet recognized as revenue under Chinese GAAP with tools not yet shipped; it is defined by neither Chinese nor US GAAP, and orders in it may never produce the revenue estimated ². The split between those two piles is not disclosed.

The same fog shows up in reported results. Second-quarter GAAP net income of $89.0 million↗ carried a $69.6 million unrealized gain on the subsidiary's short-term investments, while the company's own non-GAAP figure was $44.5 million ⁵.

Two camps, one tape

The bulls buy the printed numbers. Revenue was $292.9 million in the second quarter, up 36.0% and the highest of the last eight quarters ⁵⁶, guidance was raised to $1.125 billion to $1.175 billion for 2026, and the company holds $1.0 billion in net cash ⁵. BNY Mellon opened a $41.4 million position in the June quarter ⁷.

The tape disagrees. Shares fell 6.5% on 24 September↗ ⁸, and the $76.63 last trade sits under the 50-day line while every published price target, from $100 at Craig Hallum to $136 at Daiwa, stands 30% to 77% above it ⁷.

A CEO sale, a lawsuit and a slot on the Entity List

The credibility ledger runs longer. CEO David Wang sold 70,000 shares for $5.22 million on 9 September, an 8.02% cut to his position ⁷. A 2021 class action↗ alleged revenue was diverted to undisclosed related parties ⁹; the fiscal 2025 10-K↗ reports ordinary-course matters and names related suppliers Ninebell and Shengyi, through which materials purchases ran $80.1 million in 2025 ⁴. Washington put ACM Shanghai and ACM Korea on the BIS Entity List in December 2024, restricting the US-controlled parts and technology the unshipped share of backlog depends on ⁴.

The company set its own deadline

ACM reports preliminary nine-month results before the US market open on 28 October, with full third-quarter results in early November ². That print is where the backlog either books as revenue or stays a promise. Holders through it benefit if conversion runs on schedule; whoever bought the +88.2% headline pays if the shipped-but-unbooked share proves large. One undisclosed line decides it: the share of RMB 17.1 billion already shipped and waiting to count.