BIREN TECH goes public, how solid is the "first GPU stock in Hong Kong"?

After MoEr Thread-U and MuXi Co., Ltd. - U recently listed on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board, another domestic GPU (graphics processing unit) manufacturer, BIREN TECH, landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on January 2, 2026, becoming the "first GPU stock in Hong Kong." On the first day of listing on January 2, BIREN TECH opened at HKD 35.7 per share, an increase of 82.14% compared to the issue price. By the close, the company's stock price was HKD 34.46 per share, up 75.82%, with a total market capitalization of HKD 82.6 billion. In comparison, MoEr Thread-U and MuXi Co., Ltd. - U, which recently listed on the A-share market, had first-day gains of 425.46% and 692.95%, respectively. According to the announcement, the company globally issued approximately 285 million shares at an issue price of HKD 19.6 per share, raising a total of HKD 5.583 billion (approximately RMB 5 billion). The funds raised will be used for the research and development of intelligent computing solutions and commercialization, working capital, and other general corporate purposes. It is noteworthy that in September 2024, BIREN TECH signed a counseling agreement with Guotai Junan Securities. The company had previously planned to list on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board and submitted a listing counseling record to the Shanghai Regulatory Bureau of the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Considering that the Hong Kong Stock Exchange can provide the company with access to capital and a diversified investment platform, the company decided to go public in Hong Kong in the first half of 2025. "Hong Kong accepts long-term capital, matching the globalization of GPU development. BIREN TECH has a high customer concentration and a relatively low market share, making it difficult to replicate the enthusiasm of A-share investors for MuXi Co., Ltd. and MoEr Thread," said Huang Huayan, General Manager of Beijing Dadao Xingye Investment, to Caijing. As an international capital hub, listing naturally became BIREN TECH's first choice, aligning with the company's unique development path. BIREN TECH told Caijing that the company plans to issue and list A-shares at an appropriate time in compliance with relevant listing regulations. According to the company's post-hearing materials, it has not yet determined the timetable, issuance scale, and listing location for the A-share market. Affected by the rapid development of artificial intelligence and the acceleration of the localization process, domestic GPU companies have seen rapid growth in performance in recent years. From 2023 to 2024, BIREN TECH's operating revenue increased from RMB 62 million to RMB 337 million, but due to high R&D investment, the company remains in a loss position. In terms of revenue scale, BIREN TECH's revenue is still behind the other two A-share GPU companies. Unlike the two A-share GPU companies that provided clear profit forecasts, BIREN TECH did not specify a profit forecast timeline in its post-hearing materials, and it remains uncertain when the company will achieve breakeven. In recent years, BIREN TECH's gross profit margin has experienced significant fluctuations. In the first half of 2025, the company's gross profit margin was 31.9%, a decrease of nearly 40 percentage points year-on-year. BIREN TECH told Caijing that with the commercialization of the new high-end flagship product BR166 chip in 2025, the gross profit margin for the entire year of 2025 is expected to improve From the perspective of intergenerational product development rhythm, BIREN TECH's intergenerational product development cycle is longer than that of Moore Threads, and is roughly in sync with MuXi Co., Ltd. Continuous Losses In recent years, BIREN TECH has seen continuous revenue growth but remains in a loss-making state, and it is still uncertain when the company will turn a profit. BIREN TECH's three main sources of revenue include intelligent computing solutions, support or extended warranty services, and rental income from intelligent computing clusters. Among these, intelligent computing solutions account for over 90% of the revenue, making it the company's primary source of income. BIREN TECH's overall intelligent computing solution (specialized technology products) consists of two parts: a hardware system based on the company's GPGPU (General-Purpose Graphics Processing Unit) architecture and chips, and the BIRENSUPA computing software platform. The company's specialized technology products were commercialized in August 2022 and began generating revenue from intelligent computing solutions in 2023. From 2023 to 2024, BIREN TECH's operating revenue increased from 62 million yuan to 337 million yuan. In the first half of 2025, the company's operating revenue was 58.903 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of nearly 50%. By product, in the first half of 2025, the revenue from intelligent computing solutions was 58.15 million yuan, with a year-on-year growth of nearly 50%. BIREN TECH stated that the revenue growth from intelligent computing solutions in the first half of 2025 was mainly due to rising customer demand and an optimized customer structure that includes leading enterprises from more selected industries. In terms of revenue scale, BIREN TECH's revenue is lower than that of MuXi Co., Ltd. and Moore Threads. In 2024, MuXi Co., Ltd. and Moore Threads had revenues of 743 million yuan and 438 million yuan, respectively. In the first half of 2025, the revenues of the two companies exceeded 900 million yuan and 700 million yuan, respectively. According to data from ZhiShi Consulting, the Chinese intelligent computing chip market is expected to reach 50.4 billion USD by 2025, with the GPGPU market reaching 40.9 billion USD. BIREN TECH's market share in the Chinese intelligent computing chip market and the Chinese GPGPU market is approximately 0.19% and 0.23%, respectively. Based on the above data, BIREN TECH's operating revenue in 2025 is estimated to be around 9.4 million to 9.6 million USD, equivalent to approximately 658 million to 672 million yuan. As of December 15, 2025, BIREN TECH has 24 outstanding binding orders for specialized technology products, with a total value of 822 million yuan. During the same period, the company signed five framework sales agreements and 24 sales contracts for specialized technology products, with a total value of approximately 1.241 billion yuan, which will contribute to the company's future revenue upon realization. Among the two GPU companies in the A-share market, MuXi Co., Ltd. is expected to achieve revenue of 1.5 billion to 1.98 billion yuan in 2025, while Moore Threads predicts revenue of 1.218 billion to 1.498 billion yuan in 2025. The projected revenue figures for the two companies in 2025 are higher than those predicted for BIREN TECH Similar to many domestic GPU companies, despite rapid revenue growth in recent years, BIREN TECH is still in a loss-making state. From 2022 to 2024, BIREN TECH's adjusted net losses (measured by non-International Financial Reporting Standards) were RMB 1.038 billion, RMB 1.051 billion, and RMB 767 million, respectively. In the first half of 2025, the company reported a loss of RMB 552 million, an increase compared to the RMB 438 million loss in the same period last year. Regarding the reasons for the losses, BIREN TECH stated that it was mainly due to significant operating expenses, particularly research and development expenses; at the same time, the company is still in the early stages of commercialization, and the revenue during the reporting period was insufficient to offset the large investments. BIREN TECH expects that the net loss in 2025 will increase significantly, due to: an increase in research and development expenses resulting from heightened R&D activities during the development phase of ongoing projects, mainly because the company plans to strengthen R&D investment to promote the tape-out process of the new generation BR20X product; financial costs are expected to rise due to an anticipated increase in the balance of redeemable liabilities. As for when the company will become profitable, BIREN TECH has not provided a timeline for profitability in the materials submitted after the hearing. Two A-share GPU companies have provided timelines. Moxi Co., Ltd. expects that the earliest time for the company to reach breakeven will be in 2026, based on its own operating conditions, combined with product market space, market share and changes, customer repurchase and new customer verification and expansion. Moore Threads predicts that the company will achieve consolidated profitability in 2027, which includes income from government subsidies; after deducting this income, the company will be in a slight profit state in 2027. In terms of sales, BIREN TECH focuses on large enterprise customers in the telecommunications core vertical field. The company has established partnerships with China's three major telecommunications operators to meet diverse procurement needs. Regarding the expansion situation with other industry customers, BIREN TECH told Caijing that the company strategically focuses on key industries with high computing power demand and establishes strategic partnerships with major customers in various industries. The key industries the company is focusing on include AI data centers, telecommunications, AI solutions, energy and public utilities, fintech, and the internet. Significant Fluctuations in Gross Margin Due to changes in the sales product mix, BIREN TECH's gross margin has shown certain fluctuations, with a significant decline in gross margin in the first half of 2025. From 2023 to 2024, BIREN TECH's gross margins were 76.4% and 53.2%, respectively. In the first half of 2025, the company's gross margin was 31.9%, a significant decline compared to the 71% gross margin in the same period last year, leading to a decrease in gross profit from RMB 27.9 million in the same period last year to RMB 18.8 million. From 2023 to 2024, Moxi Co., Ltd.'s main business gross margins were 64.27% and 53.48%, while Moore Threads' gross margins were 27.84% and 72.32%, respectively. According to Wind data, in the first three quarters of 2025, the sales gross margins of Moore Threads and Moxi Co., Ltd. were 61.74% and 55.65%, respectively BIREN TECH stated that in 2024, the company's revenue will mainly come from PCIe board sales, primarily involving the Bili TM 106M product (without customized software combinations), leading to a decline in gross profit margin for the period. "In 2025, the entry-level product TM Bili 106C will record a higher revenue proportion, while in the first half of 2024, the revenue proportion of high-end products will be relatively high, and the gross profit margin of high-end products is usually higher." "The revenue proportion of high-end products in the first half of 2024 is relatively high, and the company's gross profit margin in the first half of 2025 is lower year-on-year mainly due to the impact of the sales structure (product mix)." BIREN TECH told Caijing that in the first half of 2025, the new product BR166 will be in mass production and adaptation stages, and with the commercialization of the new high-end flagship product BR166 in 2025, the gross profit margin for the entire year of 2025 is expected to improve. BIREN TECH further stated that since the company is still in the early stages of commercialization, the gross profit margin during the historical record period was significantly affected by changes in the product mix. As the company continues to commercialize solutions and increase revenue, the current situation may not indicate future gross profit margins. In addition to the short-term volatility of gross profit margins, BIREN TECH's market share is also a focus of market attention. The Chinese AI computing (GPU field) market is highly concentrated. According to the first round of inquiries from Moore Threads, in 2024, NVIDIA and AMD together will account for over 90% of the Chinese GPU market, with other participants having a relatively low share, and Moore Threads' share being less than 1%. The remaining market is relatively fragmented, providing opportunities for market participants to expand their scale and stand out in future competition. Entering 2025, with restrictions on NVIDIA chip exports to China and the backdrop of domestic substitution, the market is full of expectations for domestic GPU replacements. In terms of market share, BIREN TECH is still at a low level. According to Zhaoshang Consulting data, based on revenue generated in the Chinese market, it is expected that the Chinese intelligent computing chip market will reach USD 50.4 billion (approximately RMB 352.8 billion) by 2025, and BIREN TECH expects to achieve about 0.2% market share. Given the continuous improvement in the competitiveness of Chinese enterprises in intelligent computing chips, it is expected that the combined market share of Chinese enterprises in intelligent computing chips will grow from about 20% in 2024 to about 60% in 2029. According to the first round of inquiries from Moore Threads, in the domestic AI computing acceleration chip (including GPU, GPGPU, non-GPU types) market, in 2024, NVIDIA, Huawei HiSilicon, and AMD will have market shares of 54.4%, 21.4%, and 15.3%, respectively, in the domestic AI chip market. Bernstein Research data shows that in 2024, in the domestic AI chip market, NVIDIA and AMD will occupy 66% and 5% of the market share in the Chinese AI accelerator market, respectively, while Huawei HiSilicon will occupy about 23% of the market share, and Cambrian, Moore Threads, and Muxi Co., Ltd. will each have a market share of about 1% According to research by CITIC Securities, it is expected that by 2030, the scale of China's AI chip market will increase to 7 to 9 times the original size of USD 35 billion to 40 billion (approximately RMB 250 billion to 280 billion) in 2025, with a growth rate higher than the global average. The localization rate of China's AI chips is expected to reach 60% to 70% by 2030. This means that domestic chip manufacturers such as Moore Threads, Muxi Co., Ltd., and BIREN TECH will face a domestic substitution market space exceeding one trillion in the coming years. What about future competitiveness? R&D capability is one of the core competencies of GPU companies. In terms of the product development cycle, BIREN TECH has a longer product development cycle than Moore Threads, and is roughly in sync with Muxi Co., Ltd. From 2022 to 2024 and in the first half of 2025, BIREN TECH's R&D expenditures were RMB 1.018 billion, RMB 886 million, RMB 827 million, and RMB 572 million, respectively, accounting for 79.8%, 76.4%, 73.7%, and 79.1% of total operating expenses during those periods. Cumulatively, the R&D expenditure during the reporting period was approximately RMB 3.303 billion. The cumulative R&D expenditure from 2022 to 2024 was RMB 2.731 billion. Despite the continuous decline in R&D expenditure from 2022 to 2024, the company's R&D expenditure saw a significant increase in the first half of 2025. In the first half of 2025, the company's R&D expenditure increased by over 40% year-on-year to RMB 572 million. "The increase in R&D expenditure in the first half of 2025 was mainly due to the increase in design service fees for the development of new products such as BR166 (mainly NRE solutions: Non-Recurring Engineering solutions, as well as engineering and technical solutions required for chip development projects, and related technical support services), which led to increased design and development expenses, as well as increased equipment leasing fees and other R&D expenses resulting from the increase in joint research projects," BIREN TECH told Caijing. The company will continue to invest in R&D, including recruiting more R&D talent, acquiring intellectual property licenses, facilities and equipment, and developing new products. Among peer companies, from 2022 to 2024, Moore Threads' cumulative R&D expenses were RMB 3.809 billion, while Muxi Co., Ltd. had RMB 2.247 billion. In comparison, during the same period, BIREN TECH's R&D expenditure was higher than that of Muxi Co., Ltd. but lower than that of Moore Threads. In terms of product development cycles, BIREN TECH's product development cycle is longer than that of Moore Threads and is roughly in sync with Muxi Co., Ltd. Since 2019, BIREN TECH has developed the first generation of GPGPU architecture and successfully developed two chips, namely the BR106 chip and the BR110 chip. The company launched the higher-performance BR166 chip product by packaging two bare die BR106 chips, utilizing chiplet technology and advanced bare die interconnect technology. In 2025, BIREN TECH completed the tape-out verification of the BR166 chip and began mass production. The BR166 chip's performance in peak computing power, memory, video encoding and decoding, and interconnect is twice that of the BR106 chip In addition, the D2D (die-to-die) bidirectional bandwidth between two BR106 bare chips can reach up to 896GB/s. In the GPU industry, the performance improvement of the next-generation chips mainly depends on the enhancement of single-card computing capabilities and other metrics. From the perspective of the single-card performance of the BR166 chip, this product is not a new generation product of the company. Among peer companies, Moore Threads, established in 2020, has launched four generations of GPU architecture chips from 2021 to 2024, namely Su Di, Chun Xiao, Qu Yuan, and Ping Hu, all of which have successfully taped out. The maximum frequency of these four generations of products has increased from 1.4GHz to 2.0GHz, and the maximum video memory capacity has increased from 16GB to 80GB. Among them, the inter-chip interconnect bandwidth of Ping Hu has increased to 800GB/s. Mu Xi Co., Ltd. launched its first training and inference integrated GPU chip, Xi Yun C500, in 2023, and subsequently released Xi Yun C550 and Xi Yun C588 based on this. The second-generation product of this series, Xi Yun C600, is expected to tape out in October 2024 and will be powered on in July 2025, currently undergoing functional testing. According to the prospectus, the company's second-generation high-performance general-purpose GPU R&D project is already in the trial production stage. According to the response to the inquiry letter, the single-card computing power of Mu Xi Co., Ltd.'s Xi Yun C500 series products has exceeded NVIDIA H20, and the latest generation Xi Yun C600 series products also lead NVIDIA H20 in single-card computing power; based on MetaXLink interconnect technology, the interconnect bandwidth of the company's GPU products has reached performance comparable to NVIDIA's flagship product (H200) under the 4nm process technology. Regarding the planning for future generation chips, BIREN TECH plans to launch the next-generation flagship data center chip BR20X series based on the second-generation architecture for cloud training and inference. The company expects BR20X to provide stronger single-card computing capabilities compared to the first-generation products, equipped with larger and faster memory, higher-speed interconnect bandwidth, and ultra-node system design. BIREN TECH told Caijing that the company has completed the architectural design of BR20X and is currently conducting physical design and tape-out verification. BR20X is expected to be commercially launched in 2026. BIREN TECH stated that the company is simultaneously planning the future generation BR30X products for cloud training and inference, as well as BR31X for edge inference, which are expected to be commercially launched in 2028. "The company expects BR30X and BR31X to provide stronger computing power, larger memory capacity, better ecosystem adaptability, improved scalability, and lower TCO (total cost of ownership)." In terms of intelligent computing cluster scale, compared to the cluster scale of 100,000 cards of international peer companies, domestic GPU enterprises still have a significant gap. American companies Microsoft, OpenAI, Meta, and products under xAI have all reached a cluster scale of 100,000 cards. The Grok-3 released by xAI uses a chip cluster trained with 200,000 cards Among domestic GPU companies, Moore Threads has tackled the challenge of efficient interconnection for GPU clusters ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of units. The company's GPU cluster management platform effectively reduces the complexity and cost of managing and operating intelligent computing centers, supporting cluster scales of tens of thousands, with effective operating times reaching 99%. Muxi Co., Ltd. is one of the few domestic GPU suppliers that has truly achieved large-scale commercial applications of thousands of unit clusters, and is also involved in the research and promotion of tens of thousands of unit clusters. In terms of cluster stability, Muxi Co., Ltd. can achieve automatic tuning and dynamic monitoring of clusters, fault checking, and automatic recovery through hardware and software collaboration, with actual tests showing that it executed a 128B MoE (a type of hybrid model architecture) large model training task on a thousand-unit cluster with no fault for over 14 days (training tasks end as needed). BIREN TECH told Caijing that according to data from ZhiShi Consulting, the company is one of the earliest GPGPU companies in China to achieve commercial use of thousand-unit clusters. The company's thousand-unit clusters have operated continuously for over 5 days without hardware or software faults, providing training services uninterrupted for over 30 days. "The company's solutions, technology, and industry knowledge enable it to commercially deploy tens of thousands of intelligent computing clusters." Risk Warning and Disclaimer The market has risks, and investment requires caution. This article does not constitute personal investment advice and does not take into account the specific investment objectives, financial conditions, or needs of individual users. Users should consider whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this article align with their specific circumstances. Investment based on this is at one's own risk