One of the largest stock exchanges in the world by market capitalisation, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) has become a prominent financial market leveraged to a growing number of themes taking the world into a new era.
Among these themes, technology has played a pivotal role in the transformation of industries tied to commerce, payments, media, consumer goods, and manufacturing. It has also supported China’s middle-class being among the fastest-growing in the world, and underpinning growth in the world’s second-largest economy.
It should therefore come as no surprise that the Hong Kong Stock Exchange plays host to some of the biggest and most-innovative tech companies in the world, featuring regional peers for the likes of Amazon, Apple, Meta, Alphabet, Intel, Tesla and more.
Tencent Holdings Code: HKG: 0700 | Value: HKD3.6 trillion / US$460 million | US Peers: Meta (FB & WhatsApp) $TENCENT(00700)$
One of the most-popular names out of Asia, Tencent is a Chinese multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate headquartered in Shenzhen, with a particular focus on social media, gaming, payments, and music, among other areas.
Founded in 1998, it is the largest video game company in the world thanks to its subsidiary Tencent Games, which publishes mobile and online games. It also owns Tencent Music, as well as Tencent QQ and WeChat, the latter considered an equivalent to WhatsApp.
Tencent became the first Asian tech firm to surpass a US$500 billion valuation back in 2018, and it has regularly been cited as one of the most-innovative companies in the world. Through its venture capital arm, it has investments in hundreds of tech startups and businesses, and today it is one of the largest tech companies in the world by market cap despite a large share price drop over the last year.
Alibaba Group Code: HKG: 9988 / NYSE: BABA | Value: HKD2.4 trillion / US$295.7 billion | US Peers: Amazon, eBay $Alibaba(09988)$
Alibaba is a product of China’s unappeasable demand for shopping via ecommerce channels. Founded by Chinese business magnate Jack Ma, Alibaba operates three main sites, which includes Alibaba.com, as well as Tmall and Taobao. It boasts millions of merchant sellers across its sites, and hundreds of millions of users.
The company listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014, at the time setting the record for the largest IPO in history. It followed Tencent in becoming the second Asian company to top a US$500 billion valuation, but has since faced some pressure in response to regulatory changes and an antitrust investigation amid concerns about anti-competitive behaviour.
Alibaba also acts as a venture capital firm, with a stake in hundreds of businesses, many tech-oriented. Perhaps its most-prominent investment is a one-third stake in none other than Ant Group, which itself owns China’s largest digital payment platform, Alipay. Ant Group planned a US$37 billion IPO in late 2020 before regulators intervened and put those aspirations on hold.
Meituan Code: HKG: 3690 | Value: HKD961.9 billion / US$122.8 billion | US Peers: Tripadvisor, Uber (Eats), Groupon $MEITUAN-W(03690)$
Meituan is another tech shopping platform providing online retail services to Chinese consumers, including food delivery, in addition to hotel and travel bookings, movie tickets, and more.
Founded in 2010, the Beijing-based company owns a number of different apps and websites. As a group-discount site similar to the likes of Groupon, it sells vouchers for local services and entertainment. However, it is the company’s on-demand delivery platform that has gained attention in recent times, one of the largest in the world with hundreds of millions of registered users.
Meituan’s merger with Dazhong Dianping in 2015 transformed the company, providing it with a community portal similar to TripAdvisor, where members may review restaurants and other services.
Last year the company raised funds to fast-track its efforts to grow within the Chinese grocery industry. It also plans to develop autonomous technology for deliveries, including drones. Like Alibaba, it has faced increased regulatory scrutiny concerning anti-competitive behaviour.
BYD Company Code: HKG: 1211 | Value: HKD776.7 billion / US$99.2 billion | US Peers: Tesla, Ford $BYD COMPANY(01211)$
BYD is an auto manufacturer based out of Shenzhen, China. Set up in 1995, the company originally supplied lithium-ion batteries to electronics manufacturers such as Nokia. In 2003, BYD turned to manufacturing cars, and has since diversified into a solar cell manufacturer and smartphone maker.
In 2008, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’sBerkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B)invested in BYD, which then brought attention to the company’s operations in the years that followed. It created the world’s first plug-in hybrid car in 2008, and has recently developed electric cars it is pushing into markets further afield like Europe and as of last month, Australia.
As one of the pioneers for renewable energy solutions in the battery space, BYD now operates in more than 50 countries and regions across the globe, focusing on affordable solar power generation, electrified transport options, and reliable energy storage. It joins other EV-makers likeNio (HKG: 9866),Li Auto (HKG: 2015)andXpeng (HKG: 9868)on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
JD.com Code: HKG: 9618 / NASDAQ: JD | Value: HKD732.4 billion / US$89.6 billion | US Peers: Amazon $JD-SW(09618)$
One of the biggest online retailers out of China, JD.com is much like the Chinese version of Amazon. Founded in 1998, it has grown to become a Fortune Global 500 company thanks to its online marketplace platform, which launched in 2010.
JD.com shares a strategic alliance with US-listedWalmart (NYSE: WMT), with the consumer giant holding a stake of around 10% in the Chinese company. With around 570 million active customers on its e-commerce platform, JD.com has a captive audience that is bigger than the entire population of the US.
Much like Amazon, it offers products across the likes of electronics, apparel, personal care, and a number of other segments. JD has also built its own supply chain and logistics network, which is tied to tech-heavy fulfilment infrastructure including the world’s first fully-automated warehouse, and it has plans for drones and delivery robots in the works. The company also operates a cross-border platform, JD Worldwide, which connects Chinese consumers with international goods.
NetEase Code: HKG: 9999 / NASDAQ: NTES | Value: HKD487.2 billion / US$60.2 billion | US Peers: Microsoft, Alphabet $NTES-S(09999)$
Established in 1997, and one of China’s leading internet technology companies, NetEase is a mobile and PC game developer. However, it also has a significant focus on communication technologies, commerce and content. While it is a major name in China, the company has also entered both the US and Japan markets.
In its home market, NetEase has partnered with the likes of Blizzard to operate international video games such asWorld of Warcraft,Diablo IIIandStarCraft II. In terms of creation, it has developed some of the most-popular PC games in the Chinese market, likeNew Ghost,Fantasy Westward JourneyandJustice.
NetEase is a majority holder in Youdao, which is a leading intelligent learning company, and Cloud Village, one of China’s most-recognised online music platforms and content communities that also goes by the name of NetEase Cloud Music. It also boasts a private-label e-commerce platform called Yanxuan.
Baidu Code: HKG: 9888 / NASDAQ: BIDU | Value: HKD316.4 billion / US$46.1 billion | US Peers: Alphabet $BIDU-SW(09888)$
Google has become an everyday essential to millions of Australians around the country, but in China, the equivalent is a company called Baidu. It was originally founded in 2000 as a search engine platform and has today grown to account for more than 80% of China’s online search market with an estimated 6 billion search queries per day just in China. Up to 1.6 billion users rely on Baidu across the world.
The company also has deep expertise in artificial intelligence, having relied on the technology for more than a decade to drive its platform. It also claims to be one of the few companies across the world offering a full AI stack, spanning AI chips, deep learning framework, speech recognition, augmented reality, and more.
Over one billion devices utilise Baidu’s portfolio of AI-driven products and services every month, and that is primarily led by its industry-leading Baidu ‘search-plus-feed’ app. More recently, the company has made a concerted effort to map out growth in the intelligent driving space, banking on the use of its technology to transform autonomous driving.
Xiaomi Corp Code: HKG: 1810 | Value: HKD348.2 million / US$44.5 billion | US Peers: Apple $XIAOMI-W(01810)$
What would a list of high-profile tech companies be without a smartphone manufacturer? China’s answer to Apple and Samsung, Xiaomi is a consumer electronics company that manufactures smartphones and smart hardware connected by an IoT platform.
It is one of the biggest-selling smartphone companies, and as recently as last year it ranked second in the world for market share in the smartphone category as measured by the volume of shipments. In the process it passed Apple. By the middle of last year it also boasted 364.5 million smart devices connected to its AIoT (AI+IoT) platform, more than any other company in the world.
Since it was formed in 2010, Xiaomi has grown at a significant rate, now selling products in over 100 countries and regions, and regularly featuring among the Fortune Global 500 list of companies. It only took the company three years to become the biggest market player in China’s domestic smartphone market, and following that success it has expanded its operations to producing appliances and other consumer electronic goods.
Kuaishou Code: HKG: 1024 | Value: HKD316.1 billion / US$40.4 billion | US Peers: Alphabet (YouTube), Meta (Instagram) $KUAISHOU-W(01024)$
Tapping into the social media theme that has exploded over the best part of the last decade, Kuaishou is a short-video social media platform and leading content community. Users of the site record and share their lives through video content, with a view to help people discover other creators and businesses, as well as their products and services.
The company only listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong on February 5, 2021, so it is among the most-recent publicly-listed HK tech stocks.
Kuaishou’s journey began with sharing GIF imagery back in 2011, and a year later it became the first-mover in China’s short-video industry, allowing users to create, upload and view short videos on smartphones. In 2013, it then launched its own short-video social platform, which in 2021 surpassed 1 billion monthly active users.
Semiconductor Manufacturing InternationalCode: HKG: 0981 | Value: HKD212.1 billion / US$27.1 billion | US Peers: GlobalFoundries, Intel $SMIC(00981)$
Founded in 2000, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, or SMIC for short, is a semiconductor foundry company that is ranked the fifth-largest in the world. As at the middle of 2021, it had a market share of just over 5%, and in mainland China it is the largest contract chip-maker.
The Shanghai-based company offers semiconductor foundry and technology services to customers around the world likeQualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM). Its integrated circuit manufacturing focuses on 0.35 micron to 14 nanometer process node technologies, taking place across three 8-inch water fabrication facilities in China, three 12-inch facilities, while another three 12-inch fabs are being developed.
On the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, SMIC is joined by other high-profile semiconductor stocks likeHua Hong Semiconductor (HKG: 1347). Although SMIC is publicly-listed, it is partially state-owned by the Chinese government through its connection to military telecoms provider Datang Telecom, and the China National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund. Those ties have proved controversial in the US, with authorities prohibiting any US company or individual from investing in SMIC, and the company being added to the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Entity List.
Lenovo Code: HKG: 0992 | Value: HKD102.6 billion / US$13.1 billion | US Peers: Dell, Hewlett Packard $LENOVO GROUP(00992)$
A name that many local investors might know due to its international reach, Lenovo is the world’s largest personal computer vendor by unit sales. It was founded in 1984 and has played an influential role throughout recent history in the development of the personal computer and laptops.
In more recent times, the company has also pivoted towards a broader range of Smart Technology products, solutions, software and services. Lenovo is a Fortune Global 500 tech company that serves more than 180 markets around the world, delivering PCs, monitors, tablets, smartphones, smart home and smart collaboration solutions, Internet-of-Things, data centre solutions and much more.
The company claims to make three devices every second, and has reportedly shipped over half a billion PCs since 1995. Lenovo also owns the majority of its more than 30 manufacturing facilities in four continents, and retains direct control over its supply chain.
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