Surge in IPOs in China: AI and Robotics Companies Lead Debuts in Shanghai and Hong Kong

Chinese markets are filled with new initial public offerings (IPOs), driven by cutting-edge artificial intelligence and robotics technology, as well as a growing preference to list on the Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges.

In the most recent stock market debut, shares of the digital giant Shein, founded in China, will debut on Tuesday in Hong Kong in an initial public offering that will raise $1.7 billion. This will make it one of the largest new stock sales in the city this year.

Meanwhile, CXMT, China's largest memory chip manufacturer, raised over $8.6 billion in July in Shanghai, in the second-largest IPO of its STAR market, and the second-largest IPO in mainland China. It should be noted that its shares soared 466% on the first day of trading.

Another prominent figure is Unitree, one of China's leading humanoid robot manufacturers, which also debuted on the Shanghai stock exchange in August. Shares rose 460% on the first trading day.

Ruiying Zhao, a senior research analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence, indicated that "the current IPO boom is driven by investors' appetite for AI and robotics." Trading on the Shanghai stock market, for example, is heavily driven by retail investors.

The IPO of CXMT in Shanghai "placed China in a strategically significant position in technology manufacturing related to AI," said Perris Lee, head of equity capital markets for APAC at ION Analytics. "It is also a testament to China's ambitions for technological self-sufficiency," he assured.

Founded in 2016, the Chinese tech company increased its revenue by over 700% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, reaching 50.8 billion yuan ($7.5 billion) due to the surge in demand for artificial intelligence chips.

The financial data platform LSEG indicates that IPOs and secondary listing activities on the Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges have raised over $54 billion so far in 2026, surpassing last year's total of over $46 billion.

Additionally, the entity stated that the total raised by Hong Kong and Shanghai so far this year represented approximately 21% globally, placing them just behind Nasdaq with around 55%. There, the mega IPO of $75 billion by SpaceX in June made the U.S. exchange the largest IPO market in the world this year.

The increased regulatory pressure from the U.S. and China on Chinese tech companies listed in New York has led several firms in strategic sectors to shift their stock financing to the Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges.

Howie Farn, a partner in the capital markets practice at Freshfields, detailed that listing abroad often takes longer compared to going public in China.

The stock market openings of Luxshare Precision Industry and Zhongji Innolight led operations in Hong Kong, sustained by interest in high technology. Following this trend, robotics companies like AGIBOT and Deep Robotics plan to conduct their IPOs in the Shanghai or Hong Kong markets.

After soaring in their stock market debuts due to strong oversubscriptions, some firms have ceded ground in the market. This is the case for the Chinese robot manufacturer Unitree, whose stock has fallen more than 40% since its inaugural day peak.

"The critical question remains: Is the sentiment around AI enough?" Zhao from S&P posed, noting that the same doubt that raised concerns among investors in the United States now also applies to China. He added that: "for a lasting cycle, investors will demand sustainable revenues, visible profit margins, and realistic valuations."

The global frenzy for AI has also diverted attention from companies like Shein. Jacob Cooke, CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies, stated that "the investment cycle in AI is absorbing much of the risk appetite that would otherwise have flowed into a company like Shein."

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