SHANGHAI: Zhongji Innolight Co received approval from China’s securities regulator and the Hong Kong stock exchange for what is likely to be one of the city’s biggest listings in years.
The Shenzhen-traded company last Friday received approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission for the planned Hong Kong listing.
Earlier it got the green light from the city’s bourse.
Innolight, which makes optical transceivers used in artificial intelligence (AI) and data centres, is planning to start taking orders as soon as this week for the listing which could raise as much as US$8bil, according to people familiar with the matter.
Deliberations are ongoing and details such as size and timing may change, the people said. A representative for Innolight didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside normal office hours in China.
The debut is shaping up as one of the highlights in a wave of offerings by Chinese companies along the AI supply chain, which have fuelled a deals boom in Hong Kong. First-time share sales in the city have raised about US$35bil this year, already near the total of 2025, which was a four-year high.
At US$8bil, Innolight’s listing would be the city’s biggest since Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s US$12.9bil listing in 2019, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Other sizeable share sales in the pipeline include optical transceiver manufacturer Eoptolink Technology Inc, which is preparing to raise as much as US$5bil, people familiar with the matter have said.
Fast fashion retailer Shein Global Holdings Ltd is also nearing an initial public offering to raise up to US$3bil, people familiar have said.
The deal’s size is much higher than previous expectations as Innolight’s shares have rallied 454% in Shenzhen over the past year thanks to the AI boom. That’s despite a 29% drop from a June peak.
The company, a supplier to the likes of Nvidia Corp, Alphabet Inc and Meta Platforms Inc, has been one of the beneficiaries of US tech companies’ huge spending plans for data centres and AI infrastructure.
However the rally that has powered huge gains in the shares of AI-related companies such as chipmakers is starting to see cracks, with traders increasingly questioning whether massive gains fuelled by the buildout of AI have run too far to justify their elevated valuations.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc, China International Capital Corp, Morgan Stanley and GF Securities Co are joint sponsors for Innolight’s listing. — Bloomberg
