Chinese artificial intelligence startup MiniMax Group has taken center stage in Hong Kong’s resurgent equity markets, spearheading six new listings worth a combined HK$16.7 billion ($2.15 billion) launched on Wednesday.
This is a fresh signal that AI developers and chipmakers are now driving the city’s IPO revival and shaping expectations for deal flow in 2026.
The flurry of offerings caps a blockbuster year for Hong Kong, which raised $36.5 billion from 114 new listings in 2025, its strongest performance since 2021 and more than triple the roughly $11.3 billion raised in 2024, according to LSEG data. Bankers and investors say the renewed momentum reflects a convergence of easing regulatory bottlenecks, pent-up demand from mainland firms, and surging investor appetite for companies positioned at the heart of China’s push for technological self-reliance.
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MiniMax, one of the country’s most closely watched large language model developers, is seeking to raise up to HK$4.19 billion from the sale of 25.4 million shares priced between HK$151 and HK$165, ahead of its planned debut on January 9. At the top end of the range, the offering would value the company at about $6.5 billion, placing it firmly among the most valuable Chinese AI startups to tap public markets.
Founded in early 2022 by former SenseTime executive Yan Junjie, MiniMax develops multimodal AI systems capable of processing text, audio, images, video, and music. Its portfolio includes models such as MiniMax M1, Hailuo-02, Speech-02, and Music-01, which are increasingly being pitched as building blocks for consumer applications, enterprise tools, and creative content platforms.
The listing makes MiniMax one of the first Chinese large language model developers to seek a public flotation in Hong Kong, a milestone that analysts see as symbolically important for the sector.
Alongside MiniMax, semiconductor specialists OmniVision Integrated Circuits and GigaDevice Semiconductor have also kicked off bookbuilding for their Hong Kong IPOs, each aiming to raise about $600 million. Their presence underscores how chip designers are once again finding receptive capital markets, even as global semiconductor supply chains remain shaped by geopolitical constraints and export controls.
“The wave of IPO approvals does suggest a shift in accelerating AI startup development through capital market access,” said Lian Jye Su, chief analyst at tech research firm Omdia.
He added that while the United States still leads in frontier computing power and model performance because of its dominance in advanced chips, access to public funding allows China to “build a resilient, self-sufficient AI ecosystem with minimal impact from tech restrictions.”
Investor enthusiasm for Chinese AI stocks has been building steadily since the rise of DeepSeek, a domestic alternative to ChatGPT that reignited interest in homegrown AI capabilities. That momentum has been reinforced by recent global dealmaking, including Meta’s acquisition of Manus, which has fueled expectations that strategic investment and IPO activity in the sector will remain robust into 2026.
The demand is not limited to software-focused AI firms. Chinese memory chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies and Baidu’s AI chip unit Kunlunxin are among the companies exploring listings on domestic or Hong Kong exchanges, Reuters has reported, as capital markets reopen for hardware players critical to China’s AI ambitions.
Onshore, recent IPOs of AI chip firms Moore Threads and MetaX were thousands of times oversubscribed, with shares trading well above their offer prices even after recent pullbacks, highlighting the depth of retail and institutional demand.
MiniMax’s offering has attracted heavyweight cornerstone investors, including Alibaba, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Boyu Capital, and Mirae Asset, according to its prospectus. The presence of both Chinese and global long-term investors is seen by bankers as a vote of confidence in the company’s technology roadmap and in Hong Kong’s ability to host large, internationally marketed tech listings.
Other issuers launching deals on Wednesday span a broad range of sectors, from biotech firm Suzhou Ribo Life Science to cathode copper producer Yunnan Jinxun Resources and logistics company Hongxing Coldchain (Hunan). Together, they illustrate how the IPO window has widened beyond a narrow set of technology names, even though AI and semiconductors remain the main draw for investors.
Looking ahead, the pipeline shows little sign of slowing. Semiconductor designer Shanghai Biren Technology is set to debut on Friday, effectively opening the 2026 listing calendar, followed by offerings from Zhipu AI, Shanghai Iluvatar CoreX Semiconductor, and surgical robotics maker Shenzhen Edge Medical on January 8. For market participants, the sequencing is deliberate: anchoring the new year with high-profile AI and chip listings is expected to reinforce confidence that Hong Kong’s equity markets have moved decisively out of their post-pandemic slump.
Proceeds from the latest wave of offerings will largely be channeled into research and development, product expansion, and working capital, company disclosures show. In a market increasingly defined by strategic competition in artificial intelligence and semiconductors, investors are betting that sustained funding access will be as critical as technological breakthroughs in determining which players emerge as long-term winners.