Chinese chip designer GigaDevice debuted on the Hong Kong exchange with shares surging, fueled by investors' enthusiasm for Beijing's self-reliance push. Retail demand was oversubscribed more than 540 times, driving the strong performance.
GigaDevice's shares began trading in Hong Kong on Tuesday at HK$235, compared to the offer price of HK$162, and ended the morning session up 40 per cent at HK$226.80. On Monday evening, its shares closed between HK$224.20 and HK$226.80 in the grey market, allowing some investors to cash in gains of about 40 per cent before the official debut, data from major brokerages showed. Meanwhile, its Shanghai-listed shares trimmed earlier gains to end morning trading down 1.6 per cent at 257.56 yuan.
The listing raised HK$4.68 billion (US$600 million) through the issuance of 28.9 million shares. Retail investors subscribed for 542 times the shares allocated to them, worth HK$468 million in the offering, after borrowing HK$193.7 billion in margin financing from brokers. The institutional tranche saw an oversubscription rate of around 18 times.
China International Capital Corporation said in a report on Monday that the weight of hardcore tech firms in sectors like AI hardware in Hong Kong was still low, partly contributing to the weak performance this year. The Hang Seng Tech Index had inched up only 2 per cent so far this year, far behind the 12 per cent growth of the Star 50 Index of the Nasdaq-style Star Market in Shanghai.
This debut underscores Chinese chip companies' push for self-sufficiency amid US-China tech tensions, with growing investor interest in domestic semiconductor firms.
