Biren, which designs high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs), received regulatory approval to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange, according to a China Securities Regulatory Commission filing on Monday. This was expected to put the company on track to become the first GPU developer to go public in Hong Kong.
Co-founded by Wall Street veteran and entrepreneur Michael Zhang Wen in 2019, Biren planned to float about 372 million shares, but has not yet disclosed its fundraising target. According to mainland Chinese reports, the company could raise about US$300 million from its Hong Kong listing.
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It also underscored the broader strategy by Chinese authorities to guide private capital into the country’s drive for technological self-sufficiency, particularly in semiconductors.
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Shanghai-based Biren forms part of China’s “four little dragons” in the GPU segment – along with mainland peers Moore Threads, MetaX and Enflame Technology – that looked to unseat Nvidia as the preferred AI chip supplier in the world’s second-largest economy.
