Hong Kong's IPO market has raised more than HK$140 billion ($17.9 billion) by the end of April, ahead of every other listing venue in the world. That is more than the entire 2025 total, in four months.
Average daily turnover on the exchange: HK$280 billion (since March)
Q1 listings: 37 companies, $13.26 billion raised (LSEG)
Year-to-date through April: $17.9 billion
The Details
Financial Secretary Paul Chan made the announcement on Sunday, framing the print as a vote of confidence from global investors. Hong Kong is the world's top IPO fundraising hub for the first time in five years.
The deal mix
Victory Giant: $2.6 billion, biggest deal of the year, Nvidia PCB supplier (April)
Muyuan Foods: HK$10.7 billion, China's largest pig breeder (April)
Biren Technology: HK$5.58 billion, GPU developer (April)
Huaqin Technology: $581 million, AI hardware (April)
Lightelligence: HK IPO at top of range (this week, photonic chips)
Cornerstone investors include Charoen Pokphand from Thailand, Wilmar from Singapore, UBS, Eastspring, and Mitsubishi UFJ. The buyer base is genuinely global, not just mainland-driven.
Chan also flagged a renewed push to develop gold trading in Hong Kong as global demand for risk diversification rises. The framing is direct: amid Iran conflict volatility and US dollar uncertainty, Asia wants a regional gold trading center, and Hong Kong wants the franchise.
Why this is different from the 2018 boom
The last time Hong Kong was the world's top IPO market, the deal pipeline was driven by Chinese consumer and internet plays such as Xiaomi and Meituan. This cycle is structural. The biggest deals are AI supply chain (Victory Giant, Lightelligence, Biren), industrial restructuring (Muyuan Foods, ZTE spinouts), and clean energy (Sigenergy).
After three years of underweighting China, global funds have rotated back. The catalyst was the Hang Seng tech rally that started in late January 2026 after the DeepSeek R1 release, and the index has held its gains since.
The pipeline staying lined up matters. Several Chinese AI hardware names are reportedly preparing dual-listings in Hong Kong, including Cambricon and Hygon. If the window stays open through Q3, 2026 will easily clear $30 billion in Hong Kong IPO volume, double 2024.
Sources: Bloomberg, SCMP, LSEG Data and Analytics
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