Biren Technology Shares Surge 76% on HKEX Debut

Shanghai Biren Technology Co., a Chinese designer of artificial intelligence chips, saw its shares surge more than 76 percent on Friday during their debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange, raising 717 million Hong Kong dollars in one of the year's most anticipated initial public offerings.

The stock, which develops graphics processing units for training and running AI models, opened at 35.70 Hong Kong dollars, well above its IPO price of 19.60 Hong Kong dollars at the top of the indicative range. It climbed as high as 42.88 Hong Kong dollars intraday before closing at 34.46 Hong Kong dollars. The offering was heavily oversubscribed, with the retail portion attracting more than 2,300 times demand and the institutional tranche exceeding supply by about 26 times. Biren, founded in 2019 by Zhang Wen, a former executive at SenseTime Group Inc., sold 284.8 million shares to capitalize on surging global interest in AI technology.

The debut marked the strongest first-day performance for a Hong Kong listing raising at least 700 million Hong Kong dollars since early 2021, surpassing the 161 percent gain by Kuaishou Technology. It reflected broader enthusiasm for Chinese AI firms amid...