(Nov 10): Hong Kong listing proceeds have climbed to the highest in six years after a fresh wave of offerings helped the market regain some of the momentum it had lost in recent months.

First-time share sales have raised US$51.9 billion (RM210.4 billion) this year, rising past the 2020 mark of US$51.6 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That makes 2026 the second-best year ever, with the 2010 record of US$57.8 billion still in sight. 

Highlighting the breadth of fundraising, 10 deals surpassed US$1 billion in proceeds this year, including Zhongji Innolight Co’s US$7.8 billion listing in July and Luxshare Precision Industry Co’s US$3.2 billion offering in June. That compares with seven such transactions in 2010, when AIA Group Ltd’s US$20.4 billion listing, the largest in the city’s history, accounted for more than a third of the year’s proceeds. 

The deal flow this year has been dominated by Chinese companies in the artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain raising funds to keep up with demand and compete with rivals mostly in the US, where marquee listings also drove one of the best initial public offering (IPO) years ever. But the pace has slowed as investors have become more cautious about the AI trade. About one in four deals in 2026 has failed to reach completion, the highest rate of abandoned listings since the global financial crisis. 

“It’s fitting that this boom in new issues has centred on the US and China,” said Phillip Wool, the head of portfolio management at Rayliant Global Advisors. “These are markets with investors whose appetite for AI-related stocks and capital to deploy in the space has been extremely strong. It’s clear that we are at something of a decision point for AI investors, who have been funding all of that equity issuance.”

While the market has slowed, bankers say several sizeable deals have simply been pushed back and are filling next year’s pipeline. Baidu Inc’s AI chip unit Kunlunxin, which filed confidentially in January for a US$2 billion IPO in Hong Kong, may now list in 2027 rather than this year, people with knowledge of the matter have said. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is preparing to list its chipmaking arm T-Head as well.

“The pipeline itself isn’t the constraint; investor demand and pricing are,” said Bush Chu, the investment director of Chinese equities at Aberdeen Investments. “Into next year, we don’t expect the pipeline to dry up. The applicant queue remains deep and some large deals deferred this year could land in 2027.”

A number of companies await approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission and issuers try to time launches in choppy markets. The Hang Seng Index has shed 4.5% this year on concerns over rising tech financing costs and a slow recovery in China.

This month is already busier as chip supplier Suzhou Denglin Technology Co and chip packaging and testing company Jiangsu Xinde Semiconductor Technology Co began trading on Tuesday. With several more deals in the market, the flow is picking up from October, when only three listings were completed, versus an average of about 13 a month from January through September, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.

Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee