One of the quiet winners of the AI boom is about to test the public markets. Zhongji Innolight, a Chinese maker of high-speed optical transceivers, has started gauging demand for a Hong Kong listing worth as much as $8bn.
The Shenzhen-listed company won approval for the deal on Friday, Bloomberg reported. It began meeting analysts and investors on Monday and could start taking orders as soon as this week. The size and timing may still change.
Why it matters
Optical transceivers are the unglamorous plumbing of the AI build-out. They convert data into light and back again, moving it between the chips and servers packed inside a data centre. As AI systems grow, so does the need for them.
Innolight is one of the biggest suppliers in the world. Its InnoLight subsidiary calls itself a leader in data-centre optics, and shipped some of the industry’s first 800G modules back in 2020. It sits in the same picks-and-shovels lane as Eoptolink, a rival that is lining up its own Hong Kong listing of up to $5bn.
