Biren jumps 82%, topping Hong Kong listings ahead of Baidu Kunlunxin IPO

Shares of Shanghai Biren Technology jumped almost 80% on Friday during their first trading session, putting the chipmaker at the top of large Hong Kong debuts seen since early 2021, according to Bloomberg.The stock ended the day at HK$34.46 after pricing its initial public offering at HK$19.60, which sat at the upper end of the marketed range. Trading earlier in the session saw the shares climb as much as 119% before some gains faded by the close.Biren raised $717 million from the sale, with the retail portion subscribed more than 2,300 times, showing how heavy demand was for the deal in Hong Kong.Biren designs graphics processing units used to train and run AI models, as interest in AI stocks has grown across global markets, while China’s policy push to support domestic chip development has fed demand for these offerings in Hong Kong.Biren trading sets pace for upcoming AI listings in Hong KongBiren’s first day performance now sets a reference point for other AI-related names preparing to list in Hong Kong next week. MiniMax Group and Knowledge Atlas Technology, known as Zhipu, are both scheduled to debut in the same market.Biren’s closing gain ranked as the strongest since Kuaishou Technology surged 161% during its 2021 debut among Hong Kong listings that raised at least $700 million.In its prospectus, Biren said proceeds from its offering will fund research and development for its computing products. The company reported a 1.6 billion yuan net loss for the first six months of the year as spending stayed heavy.Earlier this week, MiniMax said it plans to raise up to HK$4.19 billion, or $538 million, from its offering. Exchange filings also showed Biren raised HK$5.58 billion in gross proceeds. Together, the transactions point to renewed deal flow in Hong Kong, especially for companies tied to artificial intelligence and semiconductors.Market figures underline that rebound. Hong Kong raised $36.5 billion from 114 new listings in 2025, its strongest year since 2021 and more than triple the $11.3 billion raised in 2024, according to data from LSEG.Listings of comparable size between 2020 and 2025 produced a weighted average first day gain of almost 23%, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.Baidu advances Kunlunxin plan as chip push continuesMeanwhile, Baidu also announced on Friday that it was moving ahead with plans to list its AI chip unit Kunlunxin after confidentially filing a listing application with the Hong Kong exchange on January 1, thanks to fundraising that valued Kunlunxin at 21 billion yuan, or about $3 billion.Kunlunxin was founded in 2012 as an internal Baidu unit focused on AI chips before becoming independently operated, while Baidu kept a controlling stake. The unit mainly supplies chips to Baidu but has grown external sales during the past two years as demand widened beyond the parent company.DeepSeek, a Hangzhou-based startup, released a paper this week describing a more efficient method for building AI systems. The company drew industry attention last year after releasing its R1 reasoning model, and earlier research releases have come ahead of major product launches.China’s drive to build its domestic chip sector has picked up pace this year as trade tensions remain high. Officials are weighing incentives worth up to $70 billion to support the industry. If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter.