ACSL Ltd., the Tokyo-listed industrial drone maker, is caught between two governments' export policies at once, and for now the arithmetic favors it. The Growth Market-listed company's half-year report for the six months to June 2026 shows North American sales jumping to ¥1.02bn from ¥42.7mn a year earlier, a shift the filing ties directly to US restrictions on Chinese-made drones. Eleven days before the filing, though, China's Ministry of Commerce added ACSL to an export watch list, a step that tightens the review process for the Chinese-sourced dual-use components the company still relies on.
The numbers
Group revenue rose 68.9 percent year-on-year to ¥1.65bn, and the operating loss narrowed to ¥375.2mn from ¥754.2mn. Net loss still widened, to ¥358.9mn from ¥271.8mn, because the year-earlier period had booked ¥815.2mn in one-off subsidy income that did not recur this year. ACSL is a single-segment company under its own accounting, so it does not report segment results; the filing instead breaks sales into four internal categories.
| Category | H1 2025 | H1 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| North America | ¥42.7mn | ¥1.02bn |
| Defense & security | ¥426.0mn | ¥233.9mn |
| Social infrastructure | ¥298.5mn | ¥261.9mn |
| Other | ¥208.7mn | ¥134.0mn |
| Total | ¥975.9mn | ¥1.65bn |
Defense and security sales fell to ¥233.9mn from ¥426.0mn, and social-infrastructure sales fell to ¥261.9mn from ¥298.5mn, even as the North America line went from rounding error to the largest single category. ACSL attributes the North American pickup to its SOTEN drone's compliance with the US National Defense Authorization Act, which bars federal procurement of Russian- or Chinese-made drones, and to a December 2025 Federal Communications Commission rule adding foreign-made drones and key components to a Covered List that curbs new equipment certifications. SOTEN already holds the certifications it needs and can keep selling under the new regime, the company says. ACSL is also building out Canadian distribution, signing a dealer agreement with Jam Industries Ltd. in December 2025 and a partnership with Draganfly Inc. in June 2026 ahead of similar restrictions the company expects Ottawa to introduce.
The China complication
The same geopolitical logic cuts the other way on the supply side. China's Ministry of Commerce notice of June 29, 2026 placed ACSL on its watch list, which the company says has made review procedures stricter for a portion of the dual-use items it imports from China. ACSL is examining the effect on component procurement and pursuing alternative sourcing from other countries along with design changes, and says it does not currently expect a material effect on near-term operations. The filing does not name the affected components or quantify the share of procurement at risk.
On the balance sheet, ACSL's equity ratio rose to 46.6 percent from 29.1 percent, helped by a April 2026 capital reduction used to offset accumulated losses and by ¥1.27bn raised through warrant exercises during the half. The company is also running two state-backed development programs, a roughly ¥2.6bn project under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's SBIR scheme and a roughly ¥2.9bn NEDO-funded autonomous-control project with Preferred Networks as a subcontractor, both aimed at next-generation small drones. Whether the China watch-list listing widens beyond a review-procedure irritant into an actual parts shortage is the open question the company has not yet answered.