Chip designer GigaDevice surges 45% in Hong Kong debut amid China’s self-reliance drive

Mainland chip designer GigaDevice Semiconductor jumped more than 45 per cent on its first trading day in Hong Kong on Tuesday, as the Beijing-based firm’s debut catered to investor appetite for tech companies amid China’s push for self-reliance.

The firm’s shares started trading at HK$235, versus the offer price of HK$162. Its shares closed between HK$224.20 and HK$226.80 on the grey market on Monday evening, helping some investors cash in gains of about 40 per cent before the official debut, data from major brokerages showed. Its Shanghai-listed shares rose 1.6 per cent to 266 yuan on Tuesday.

Hongxing Coldchain (Hunan) also started trading on the main board on Tuesday, opening at HK$19.58, up 59.7 per cent from the offer price of HK$12.26. On Hong Kong’s GEM board, shares in Malaysian civil engineering contractor BBSB International opened at HK$3, five times the offer price of HK$0.60. Hongxing and BBSB aimed to raise HK$285 million and HK$78.8 million, respectively.

GigaDevice’s Hong Kong listing raised HK$4.68 billion (US$600 million) as the company issued 28.9 million shares. Retail investors subscribed for 542 times the number of shares allocated to them, worth HK$468 million in the offering, after borrowing HK$193.7 billion in margin financing from brokers.

Chinese chip companies have drawn market attention since Beijing vowed to find domestic alternatives to advanced US products amid trade tensions and the intensifying race in artificial intelligence. In December, graphic processing unit (GPU) start-ups Moore Threads Technology and MetaX Integrated Circuits surged more than 400 per cent and nearly 700 per cent, respectively, in their Shanghai debuts.

A general view of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing in Exchange Square. Photo: Sun Yeung

But tech firms have logged generally weaker debuts in Hong Kong. GPU maker Shanghai Biren Technology jumped 76 per cent on its debut, while large language model developers Zhipu AI and MiniMax rose 13 per cent and 109 per cent, respectively.

South China Morning Post