Two Chinese AI chip designers launch Hong Kong share sales seeking up to $1.3 billion

Recasts and rewrites throughout

By Nikita Maria Jino, Kumar Tanishk and Yantoultra Ngui

Jan 30 (Reuters) - Two Chinese fabless chip designers launched Hong Kong share offerings on Friday seeking a combined HK$10 billion ($1.28 billion), as Beijing's drive for tech self-reliance fuels a wave of semiconductor fundraising in the financial hub.

Montage Technology 688008.SS aims to raise up to HK$7.04 billion in a secondary listing, while AI inference chipmaker Axera Semiconductor is seeking HK$2.96 billion via an initial public offering, exchange filings showed.

The back-to-back launches bring to market two adjacent segments of the semiconductor value chain - data-centre interconnect chips and on-device AI processors - at a time when investor appetite for Chinese chip names has grown.

Shanghai-listed Montage has offered 65.9 million H shares at a maximum price of HK$106.89, with a pricing announcement set for February 6 and trading to begin on February 9.

The deal has 17 cornerstone investors committing $450 million, including JPMorgan Asset Management Holdings, UBS Asset Management (Singapore) and Yunfeng Capital.

Proceeds will go towards commercialisation, strengthening sales and marketing teams, strategic investment, acquisitions and working capital.

Founded in 2004, Montage designs integrated circuits that speed data movement in servers and data centres, an area drawing heavy investment as China accelerates efforts to secure domestic alternatives to high-end chips and manufacturing equipment from the U.S. where the government has imposed export restrictions.

BUSY START TO HONG KONG FUNDRAISING

Axera, formerly Shanghai Zhiaixin Semiconductor Technology and backed by Qiming Venture Partners and technology major Tencent 0700.HK, has offered 104.9 million shares at HK$28.20 each. Its shares are scheduled to debut on February 10.

Cornerstone investors include WILL Semiconductor, a unit of OmniVision Integrated Circuits 603501.SS, and JSC International Investment Fund SPC.

Axera plans to use the proceeds for upgrading its technology platform, developing new products, expanding sales, investment, acquisitions and general corporate purposes.

Founded in 2019, Axera develops AI inference system-on-chips used in on-device computing, edge processing and smart vehicles. Its processors enable cameras and vehicles to handle visual data in real time.

The two share sales add to a busy start to the year in Hong Kong, which led global IPO fundraising in 2025 with $37.2 billion from 115 new listings, LSEG data showed.

January saw debuts from AI firm MiniMax 0100.HK and chip companies Biren 6082.HK and OmniVision Integrated Circuits 0501.HK.

CICC, Morgan Stanley MS.N and UBS UBSG.S are joint sponsors of Montage's offering. CICC, Guotai Junan International and BOCOM International are sponsoring Axera's IPO.

($1 = 7.8053 Hong Kong dollars)

(Reporting by Nikita Maria Jino and Kumar Tanishk in Bengaluru and Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore; Editing by Varun H K and Christopher Cushing)

((Nikita.Jino@thomsonreuters.com;))