China’s AI and semiconductor companies are staging a comeback in the IPO market. A string of blockbuster listings on the Shanghai STAR Market and Hong Kong Exchange have delivered first-day gains that look more like meme stock rallies than traditional tech IPOs.
The numbers are genuinely staggering. Moore Threads Technology raised roughly $1.1B during its Shanghai IPO in December 2025, with shares surging over 400% on their first day of trading. MetaX Integrated Circuits, which debuted on the same exchange in mid-December, somehow outdid that with a nearly 700% pop on day one, accompanied by thousands-fold oversubscription from eager investors.
A January to remember
In January 2026, six Chinese AI and chip firms listed in Hong Kong alone, collectively raising $3.6B. That single month’s haul was nearly 60% more than all Hong Kong IPOs combined during the first quarter of 2025.
Biren Technology took center stage among those January debuts. The AI chip designer raised HK$5.58B, approximately $717M, when it began trading on January 2, 2026. Shares closed up 76% on the first day after touching an intraday high of 119% above the offer price.
