Chinese tech stocks kicked off 2026 by testing how far their AI-fueled rally can run.
Shares of Shanghai Biren Technology, an AI chip designer, surged nearly 120% on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange by midday on Friday after the company raised 5.58 billion Hong Kong dollars, or $717 million, in an initial public offering.
The stock opened at 35.70 Hong Kong dollars, well above its IPO price of 19.60 Hong Kong dollars.
That appetite was reflected across the offering, with the retail portion subscribed more than 2,300 times, according to exchange filings, underscoring intense interest in China’s homegrown AI hardware sector.
The enthusiasm has been building more broadly. Chinese AI and semiconductor stocks have rallied since the breakout of the China-made DeepSeek-R1 AI model in January last year, which helped push the Hang Seng Tech Index 23% higher in 2025. The index jumped by as much as 3.9% on Friday.
Washington’s tightening export controls on advanced Nvidia chips have also fueled the boom by accelerating demand for domestic alternatives.
“Nvidia’s once-dominant position in China’s AI chip market has effectively evaporated in 2025, marking a seismic shift in the global intelligent-computing landscape,” wrote Andrei Zakharov, an analyst who publishes on Smartkarma, in a note last week.
More Chinese AI-related IPOs ahead
Shanghai Biren’s stunning stock market debut underscored China’s AI rally, which reversed a few bruising years for the country’s tech sector amid a regulatory crackdown and broad economic challenges.
Following the DeepSeek-R1 breakout, startups such as Cambricon, Moore Threads, and Metax have drawn billions of dollars in funding as they race to supply chips for data centers, large language models, and industrial AI applications.
That surge in capital is also translating into personal fortunes, with China’s AI chip boom minting billionaires at breakneck speed even as the broader economy continues to sputter amid a long-drawn property crisis.
Shanghai Biren’s blockbuster debut is expected to be followed by more fresh supply, with Hong Kong emerging as the key venue for that fundraising drive.
Baidu, a Chinese big tech firm, said on Friday that its artificial-intelligence chip unit has confidentially filed for a Hong Kong listing.
At least 25 companies made their market debuts in Hong Kong last month, marking the busiest month for IPOs since November 2019, according to Bloomberg data. About half of those listings were technology firms.
More AI-related Chinese tech listings are expected this month. They include startup MiniMax Group and Knowledge Atlas Technology, also known as Zhipu AI, which are expected to make their debut next week.
