China’s Victory Giant Gains 60% in Hong Kong Debut

Shares in a Chinese tech firm that supplies US chip titan Nvidia soared almost 60 percent on its Hong Kong debut Tuesday, having raised more than $2 billion in the city’s largest listing this year.

Victory Giant Technology Huizhou has said it will use most of the proceeds to expand production in mainland China. It comes as the country races to boost domestic production of the microchips used to train and power generative AI tools, in a bid to rival the United States’ prowess in the sector.

Shares in the Guangdong-based firm rocketed 59.6 percent in early trade to HK$335 (US$43), having set its price at HK$209.88 and raising HK$17.3 billion ($2.2 billion). Victory Giant, whose shares are already listed across the border in Shenzhen, makes high-end printed circuit boards (PCBs), a crucial component of AI servers.

One of its key customers is Nvidia, now the world’s most valuable company thanks to feverish global demand for AI chips. The initial public offering (IPO) is the biggest since Zijin Gold International raised US$3.7 billion in September. It is also the latest in a recent run of blockbuster debuts from Chinese AI-related companies in Hong Kong, indicating optimism for China’s ambitions in the sector.

Nvidia’s most cutting-edge AI chips cannot be sold in China under US export rules that Washington says are to protect national security.