Hong Kong IPO Market Hits Five-Year High as Chinese AI and Tech Firms Flock

The Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) market has reached its highest level in five years, thanks to a surge of listings by Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) and technology companies.

Reuters Yonhap News

According to Dealogic and LSEG on April 5 (local time), the amount of capital raised through new and additional listings in Hong Kong in the first quarter of 2026 exceeded USD 13 billion. This marks the largest quarterly equity issuance since 2021. During the same period, Hong Kong outperformed the Nasdaq, New York Stock Exchange, and Bombay Stock Exchange. The total global capital raised was about USD 40 billion.

The top-performing listed stocks this year have been Zhipu and MiniMax, both of which saw their share prices soar by more than 400% following their IPOs. The two companies raised a combined total of around USD 1.3 billion through their listings, demonstrating strong demand for China’s AI industry.

Jason Lui, Head of Asia Pacific Equity and Derivatives Strategy at BNP Paribas, told the Financial Times (FT): “Looking back at 2025, when there was the DeepSeek shock, investors bought up major Chinese technology stocks included in the indices.” He added that this year, stocks providing direct exposure to China’s AI industry have become available.

Technology hardware and software companies accounted for the largest share in both the number of listings and the amount of capital raised. This demonstrates that Hong Kong is serving as an offshore fundraising hub for Chinese companies seeking to expand overseas operations and invest in research and development (R&D).

Since the end of 2024, Hong Kong’s capital market has been revitalized by a continued wave of new and secondary listings by Chinese companies. This trend is explained by the fact that mainland Chinese regulators have restricted some listings in Shenzhen and Shanghai.

Among the 38 companies newly listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in the first quarter of this year were Shanghai Iluvata CoreX Semiconductor and Accela Semiconductor, both of which are semiconductor design firms. Together, these two companies raised over USD 800 million.

More than 400 companies are currently seeking to go public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this year. However, it has been reported that some Chinese technology companies are considering shifting their listing venues from Hong Kong to Shanghai or Shenzhen, indicating that mainland Chinese stock markets could once again emerge as competitors to Hong Kong.

An investment manager at a Beijing-based venture capital (VC) firm noted that some of the portfolio companies are considering listings on the STAR Market (Ke Chuang Ban), known as the “Chinese Nasdaq.” These companies are primarily engaged in AI, quantum computing, and neurotechnology. The investment manager added that with Hong Kong IPO quality control requirements becoming stricter, the listing and registration process has slowed compared to last year.

In recent weeks, regulators have sought to cool excessive IPO enthusiasm without shutting down the boom altogether, taking measures to block so-called “low-quality” companies from listing in Hong Kong. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) recently barred some companies with opaque offshore governance structures from listing, citing “relatively low transparency in shareholding structures and high regulatory compliance risks.”

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange also expressed concerns about the quality of information submitted by some companies planning to go public. The exchange warned that lawyers and accountants responsible for faulty or inaccurate IPO prospectuses would be publicly identified and held accountable.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.