China AI chip firm Biren raises $717 million in Hong Kong IPO

Dec 31 (Reuters) – Chinese AI chip startup Shanghai Biren Technology has raised HK$5.58 billion ($716.85 million) in its Hong Kong initial public offering, according to an exchange filing on Wednesday.

The semiconductor designer set the offer price at HK$19.60 apiece, the top end of the marketed range. It offered 284.8 million shares in the IPO.

Institutional investor demand for Biren’s IPO was nearly 26 times the shares on offer, while the retail tranche was oversubscribed about 2,348 times, the filing showed.

Shanghai-based Biren’s IPO follows successful offerings from industry peers Moore Threads and MetaX as China seeks to develop domestic alternatives to U.S. semiconductors amid stringent export restrictions by Washington on advanced chips.

Founded in 2019, Biren’s co-founders include Zhang Wen, formerly the president of AI face-recognition company SenseTime, and Jiao Guofang, who previously worked at Qualcomm and Huawei.

The company initially drew attention in 2022 when it unveiled its first batch of products, including its BR100 chip, which it claimed could match the performance of Nvidia’s advanced H100 AI processor.

Hong Kong has raised $36.5 billion from 114 new listings in 2025, marking its strongest year since 2021 and more than triple the roughly $11.3 billion raised in 2024, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Biren shares are expected to debut on Friday.

($1 = 7.7841 Hong Kong dollars)

(Reporting by Himanshi Akhand in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)