Chinese optical parts maker Zhongji Innolight is seeking to raise up to HK$55.05 billion ($7 billion) in a Hong Kong listing, in what would be Asia’s second-largest share sale this year, an exchange filing showed on Wednesday.
The Shenzhen-listed company is selling 54.5 million Hong Kong shares at a maximum price of HK$1,010 each, confirming a price that Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing sources.
The deal’s size could rise to HK$63.3 billion ($8.1 billion) if a 15% over-allotment option is fully used.
The listing would be Hong Kong’s biggest share sale in nearly seven years since Alibaba Group’s $12.9 billion listing in 2019, according to LSEG data.
It would rank as Asia’s second-largest listing this year after Chinese chipmaker CXMT Corp’s $8.6 billion Shanghai STAR Market initial public offering.
“Zhongji Innolight is one of the most watched IPOs lately because of its huge size,” said Dickie Wong, executive director of research at uSMART Securities. “It’s a solid supplier to big tech names like Nvidia, with strong and stable earnings behind it.”
Wong said the company’s pricing was “quite smart,” noting that the maximum offer price of HK$1,010 a share and minimum board lot of 50 shares meant investors would need to pay more than HK$50,000 for one lot.
“Even though they’re raising a massive amount, the high entry barrier should help create strong demand and a decent debut on July 30,” Wong said, adding that the large cornerstone investor lineup meant institutions would also need exposure to the deal.
BIG INVESTORS ANCHOR DEAL
Zhongji has lined up 33 cornerstone investors to buy shares worth $3.45 billion, equal to about 49.1% of the base offering at the maximum price, the filing showed.
They include Singapore state investor Temasek, Hillhouse-linked HHLR Advisors, JPMorgan Asset Management, BlackRock, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Wellington Management, Bain Capital, Boyu Capital, Alibaba and Tencent.
Zhongji makes optical transceivers, small devices that help move large amounts of data through fibre-optic cables. The parts are used in data centres, cloud networks and artificial intelligence computing systems.
The listing comes as Chinese technology companies seek funding to expand their AI infrastructure, as they race with the U.S. to build faster data centres and computing networks.
Zhongji’s revenue rose 60.3% to 38.24 billion yuan ($5.7 billion) in 2025, while net profit more than doubled to 11.58 billion yuan, its prospectus showed. Revenue in the first quarter of 2026 nearly tripled to 19.50 billion yuan.
The company generated 57.3% of its revenue from the U.S. in 2025 and 61.7% in the first quarter of 2026, the prospectus showed.
Zhongji said it was added to a U.S. Department of Defense list of “Chinese military companies” on June 8, but said the list was not an economic sanctions list and did not restrict the company from doing business with American customers.
“A big part of their business is with U.S. companies, so they could be affected by export controls, policy changes, or any escalation in U.S.-China tensions,” Wong said. “With such a high-profile listing, you never know if it might attract extra attention from the U.S. side.”
Proceeds from the listing will be used for research and development, global production expansion and enhancement of supply-chain capabilities, among other things, the company’s prospectus said.
Banks and brokers working on the deal could earn up to about $56 million in underwriting fees before the greenshoe, assuming the full discretionary incentive fee is paid, according to the prospectus.
That compares with at least $41 million in fees for banks on CXMT’s Shanghai IPO, Reuters reported last week.
Zhongji is expected to announce the final offer price by July 29, with shares slated to debut the following day.
Reuters
