Chinese AI firm Zhipu AI launched a share sale to raise HK$4.35 billion, aiming to be the first large language model developer listed in Hong Kong amid a surge of technology IPOs. The company set its offer price at HK$116.20 per share, with plans to debut on January 8. Zhipu expects to raise HK$4.17 billion in net proceeds, with a post-listing market valuation of HK$51.16 billion.

Zhipu’s rival Minimax Group is still in the pipeline, but Zhipu is on track to be the first Chinese LLM developer traded on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The company completed eight fundraising rounds worth over 8.3 billion yuan ahead of its IPO, backed by tech giants like Alibaba, Tencent, and Xiaomi. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Shanghai Biren Technology, a GPU developer, attracted HK$459.68 billion in margin financing for its IPO, marking an oversubscription of over 1,893 times. The company aims to raise up to HK$4.85 billion and is set to start trading on January 2. Other companies like Shanghai Iluvatar CoreX Semiconductor and surgery robot maker Edge Medical also began share sales, raising about HK$3.68 billion and HK$1.2 billion, respectively.

Hong Kong’s IPO pipeline has seen a surge in tech firms going public, with concerns about market liquidity and recent share price declines of newly listed companies. While the market can absorb IPOs raising billions of dollars, liquidity may be tested with mega deals exceeding HK$10 billion. The IPO push of Zhipu AI’s rival Minimax Group is still in the pipeline.

Read more at Yahoo Finance: China’s Zhipu AI launches US$560 million share sale as Hong Kong’s IPO tech race heats up