China’s Montage Technology Soars Over 60% in Hong Kong Market Debut
Shares of Montage Technology, a Shanghai-based designer of advanced interconnect chips, surged more than 60% during their debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday. The company raised approximately $902 million through the initial share sale, underscoring robust investor interest despite ongoing geopolitical tensions and export controls targeting the chip sector.
Montage Technology’s stock closed at HK$175 (about $22.39), well above its initial offering price of HK$106.89, which was already the upper range of the anticipated pricing band. The Hong Kong tranche of the public offering was oversubscribed by over 700 times, while the international portion was nearly 38 times covered. These figures indicate strong appetite among investors for Chinese semiconductor companies, particularly those focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing.
Founded in 2004, Montage Technology specializes in manufacturing infrastructure chips integral to data centers, AI applications, and other high-performance computing platforms. The company is already listed on mainland China’s stock markets and boasts an estimated market capitalization of around $27 billion, based on data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).
This listing adds to a wave of initial public offerings (IPOs) from Chinese chipmakers in recent months, including GigaDevice Semiconductor and OmniVision Integrated Circuits, which went public in January. Other notable recent entrants in the semiconductor IPO space include Biren Technology, MetaX, Moore Threads, and Shanghai Iluvatar CoreX Semiconductor.
The surge in Chinese semiconductor IPOs aligns with Beijing’s strategic push for greater self-sufficiency in chip technology. The Chinese government is actively encouraging domestic development to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers, especially American companies such as Nvidia. Restrictions imposed by the U.S. government have limited the sale of China’s most advanced chips, prompting Beijing to accelerate support for homegrown alternatives.
However, the competitive landscape remains intense. Huawei and its chip design subsidiary HiSilicon maintain a dominant position in the domestic AI chip market. Meanwhile, Nvidia could experience a resurgence in the Chinese market after the U.S. government under the Trump administration approved the sale of Nvidia’s H200 chip to China. Although the H200 is less advanced than Nvidia’s cutting-edge offerings, it is still significantly more powerful than any AI chip previously permitted for sale in China.
According to reports from late January, Chinese regulators approved an initial batch of H200 chip imports for major domestic technology firms including ByteDance, Alibaba, Tencent, and DeepSeek. However, these approvals come with specific conditions, and the final regulatory framework governing such imports is still being finalized.
Montage Technology’s successful debut highlights the ongoing efforts and enthusiasm surrounding China’s semiconductor sector as it seeks to build a more independent and competitive industry amid complex international trade and technology challenges.
