Appier, the AI software company founded by a Taiwanese team and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime market under ticker 4180, posted record quarterly results for fiscal 2026 second quarter and raised its full-year outlook. Revenue reached JPY 12.9 billion in the quarter, up 24.6% from a year earlier, while gross margin moved above 60% for the first time. After the earnings release, the stock hit its daily upper limit on Aug. 14 and closed at JPY 1,132.
Quarterly revenue, margin and EBIT all increased
According to the company’s fiscal 2026 second-quarter report, revenue came in at JPY 12.9 billion, beating the company’s earlier forecast and rising 24.6% year over year. Gross profit reached JPY 7.7 billion, and gross margin climbed to 60.1%, a record high for a single quarter.
Operating profit, or EBIT, was JPY 1.5 billion, up 82.8% from a year earlier. Operating margin improved to 11.5%. Appier attributed the gain in profitability to the full rollout of agentic AI tools, saying they shortened research and development cycles and improved internal workflows. The report also said quarterly gross profit per employee increased 38% year over year.
CEO says AI is already showing measurable impact on earnings
Appier CEO and co-founder Chih-Han Yu said the company’s second-quarter performance shows that AI is already making a concrete and measurable contribution to the profit and loss statement, even as the market remains focused on AI’s future potential.
Yu said, 「Our strategy has always centered on one core principle: AI must create measurable return on investment for customers. As this business model continues to compound, it also strengthens our confidence in Appier becoming a long-term leader in enterprise AI.」
Full-year guidance revised higher
Based on growth momentum in the first half, Appier raised its fiscal 2026 forecast across the board. The company now expects full-year revenue of JPY 54.38 billion. It lifted its operating profit outlook to JPY 5.03 billion, which would represent 69.1% year-over-year growth, and projected net profit of JPY 4.12 billion.
Following the earnings report and upgraded guidance, Appier shares rose by JPY 150, the daily limit, to close at JPY 1,132.
Founded by a Taiwanese team, listed in Tokyo in 2021
Appier was founded in 2012 by a Taiwanese team with academic and engineering backgrounds. The report described it as one of the earlier AI unicorns from Taiwan to expand internationally. Its leadership team includes CEO Chih-Han Yu, a National Taiwan University computer science graduate with a master’s degree in AI from Stanford and a PhD in computer science from Harvard, focused on robotics and distributed AI; COO Wang-Ling Lee, who holds a biology master’s degree from Stanford and a PhD in immunology from the University of Washington and oversees global operations and organizational expansion; and CIO Chia-Yung Su, a top-ranked computer science graduate from National Chiao Tung University with a master’s degree in computer science from Harvard, responsible for the company’s underlying real-time AI computing architecture.
Japan and Northeast Asia contribute more than 70% of revenue
The report said Japan and Northeast Asia have long contributed more than 70% of Appier’s revenue. The company chose to list in Tokyo in 2021 to deepen trust among large local enterprise clients.
According to the report, Japan’s capital market offers a more mature software-as-a-service, or SaaS, valuation framework than Taiwan’s stock market, which is more heavily weighted toward hardware manufacturing. That framework places greater emphasis on annual recurring revenue, or ARR, and growth rates. The report also said a Tokyo listing allowed Appier to avoid the capital dispersion effect created by large U.S. technology stocks and helped it continue attracting institutional capital after moving to the TSE Prime board.