Hong Kong’s initial public offering pipeline is gaining strength across a broader range of industries, with biotechnology, mining and consumer companies joining a surge in listings from artificial intelligence and other technology sectors, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing CEO Bonnie Chan said on Thursday.
More than 100 companies have listed in Hong Kong so far this year, raising more than $40 billion, according to Chan. The proceeds have already exceeded the $37 billion raised through IPOs during the whole of 2025, pointing to a sharp recovery in the city’s primary market.
Speaking to CNBC’s Emily Tan, Chan said the strength of the pipeline extended well beyond the technology companies that have dominated investor attention during the global AI boom.
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“We still have a lot of pretty good high quality companies in the pipeline trying to get their IPOs done before the end of the year,” Chan said.
The comments highlight the breadth of Hong Kong’s current capital-market revival. While AI-related companies have attracted significant investor demand and helped drive some of the market’s most prominent new listings, Chan said the exchange was also seeing prospective issuers from biotechnology, mining and consumer industries.
The rebound in IPO activity comes as HKEX itself reported record half-year revenue and profit on Wednesday. Net profit rose 24% year on year to HK$10.57 billion ($1.35 billion), beating analysts’ expectations.
“Market activity remained buoyant, supported by factors like sustained IPO momentum and growing interest from global issuers and investors,” HKEX said.
The strength of Hong Kong’s equity market has also extended beyond new listings. Follow-on offerings have generated more than $50 billion so far this year, compared with $66 billion for all of 2025, Chan said.
That performance suggests companies already listed in Hong Kong are also making greater use of the market to raise fresh capital, adding another source of activity for the exchange beyond IPOs.
Trading activity has accelerated alongside the recovery in primary-market fundraising. Average daily turnover in Hong Kong has reached HK$280 billion since the beginning of the year, compared with an average of HK$250 billion for the whole of 2025, Chan said.
Average daily turnover measures the total value of shares or contracts traded in a market on a typical trading day and is widely used as an indicator of market liquidity and investor participation.
Chan said the increase in trading volumes was being driven by a broadening investor base rather than a single source of capital. Mainland Chinese investors, international institutional investors and demand associated with the IPO market and AI-related companies have all contributed to liquidity, she said.
Southbound trading, which tracks investment flows from mainland China into Hong Kong-listed securities, has remained broadly stable, according to Chan. The rise in overall turnover therefore suggests that investors outside mainland China are accounting for a growing share of activity.
“As overall ADT has increased, that means that the rest of the world is trading more in our market,” Chan said.
She said the exchange was seeing increased participation from institutional investors globally, while regional retail investors were also returning to Hong Kong equities in meaningful numbers.
“Broadly speaking, I see more participation from institutional investors from around the world. Even regional retail investors have come to our market in meaningful volumes,” she said.
The composition of cornerstone investors in recent IPOs has provided another indication of international demand. Chan said sovereign wealth funds from “every corner of the world” had participated as cornerstone investors, reinforcing Hong Kong’s role as a fundraising venue for companies seeking access to both mainland Chinese and international capital.
The combination of stronger IPO issuance, substantial follow-on fundraising and higher secondary-market turnover marks a significant expansion in activity for Hong Kong’s capital markets. The challenge for the exchange will now be to sustain that momentum through the remainder of the year while converting its sizeable pipeline of prospective listings into completed deals.