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Baidu plans Hong Kong IPO of AI chip unit Kunlunxin in spin-off move

admin — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 06:08:30 +0000

A general view of the Baidu logo is seen at the Shanghai New Expo Center during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2025 in Shanghai, China, on July 28, 2025.

Ying Tang | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Chinese tech giant Baidu has announced plans to spin off its artificial intelligence chip subsidiary, Kunlunxin, and list it in Hong Kong, as more domestic chipmakers seek funds amid Beijing’s push for semiconductor self-sufficiency.

The company said in an announcement Friday that it had confidentially filed a listing application on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, though details of the offering, including size and structure, remain undecided.

The move would still require regulatory approvals, including from China’s securities watchdog. Baidu emphasized there is no guarantee the spin-off will proceed. The company reportedly owns about 59% of Kunlunxin.

Baidu, a major player in China’s growing AI space, is both a buyer of specialized AI chips for data centers and cloud computing, as well as a designer of them through Kunlunxin.

The firm said that the spin-off would align with its strategy to highlight Kunlunxin’s standalone potential, attract sector-specific investors, and expand financing options. Kunlunxin would remain a Baidu subsidiary, it added.

The move comes against a backdrop of intensifying U.S.-China tech tensions. Both Washington and Beijing have imposed various restrictions on Chinese AI companies’ access to leading-edge AI chips from California-based Nvidia.

Meanwhile, Beijing has increasingly encouraged domestic chip purchases and mobilized billions in public funds towards development.

In recent months, several Chinese chipmakers have announced plans to list, including Moore Threads and Biren Technology.

A Growing Business Focus

Founded in 2012, Kunlunxin is central to Baidu’s ambition to become a “full stack” AI company, spanning hardware, servers and data centers, as well as AI models and applications.

While Baidu still relies heavily on Nvidia’s chips for AI computing power, Kunlunxin has enabled the company to increasingly use a mix of its self-developed chips in data centers running its Ernie AI models.

Kunlunxin has also shifted to operate as a separate entity, expanding its sales to third-party customers outside Baidu.

“In the market, Kunlunxin is seen as one of the most practical and widely used AI chips in China,” Brady Wang, associate director at Counterpoint Research, told CNBC.

He added that one of the chipmaker’s main strengths is in software. “Instead of forcing users to adopt a closed system, Kunlunxin works well with common AI frameworks and makes it easier to move workloads from [Nvidia].”

Reuters previously reported that Kunlunxin’s revenue is projected to exceed 3.5 billion yuan ($500 million) last year, reaching break-even. External sales were expected to account for more than half of its revenue in 2025, the report added.

In another sign of strength last year, Kunlunxin won orders worth over 1 billion yuan from suppliers to China Mobile, one of the country’s biggest mobile carriers.

China Mobile also participated in the entity’s latest funding, which had raised over 2 billion yuan and valued the unit at about 21 billion yuan, according to Reuters.

In its announcement, Baidu said its plans to spin off and list Kunlunxin would better tie management incentives with performance and elevate the unit’s market presence.

Late last year, JPMorgan analysts forecast that Kunlunxin’s chip sales would increase sixfold to 8 billion Chinese yuan in 2026.

However, while Kunlunxin may help reduce China’s reliance on chips from Nvidia, it cannot fully replace them, Counterpoint’s Wang said, citing Beijing’s ongoing constraints in advanced chip manufacturing.

“[Kunlunxin’s chips] work best for inference and other workloads that are easier to move, especially for government, telecom, and state-owned cloud users, where stable supply and lower cost matter more than top performance,” he said.

“Because of this, Beijing is not relying on a single company. Instead, Kunlunxin works together with Huawei Ascend, Cambricon, Alibaba, and others to build a domestic AI computing ecosystem.”

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China’s Pony.ai shares drop 14%, WeRide down 12% in Hong Kong debut

admin — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 06:21:55 +0000

A Pony.ai autonomous car.

Pony.ai

China’s Pony.ai on Thursday saw its shares drop over 14%, while rival WeRide fell nearly 12% as the autonomous driving companies began trading in Hong Kong.

Pony.ai and WeRide, which are already listed in the U.S., raised 6.71 billion Hong Kong dollars (about $860 million) and HK$2.39 billion, respectively, in their initial public offerings.

The companies are striving to keep pace with larger competitors such as Baidu‘s Apollo Go in China and Alphabet‘s Waymo in the U.S. amid growing interest in autonomous technologies.

Pony.ai and WeRide, both headquartered in Guangzhou, China, stated that funds would go toward scaling efforts, and the development of Level 4 autonomous driving — a measure of driving automation that does not require human monitoring or intervention under specific environments.

WeRide CEO Tony Xu Han told CNBC that proceeds from the latest fundraising would also be used to boost the company’s artificial intelligence capabilities and data center capacity, while Pony.ai CEO James Peng emphasized on building autonomous-driving parking and charging infrastructure, besides AI development.

The CEOs stressed on driver safety as their companies seek global expansion, including in their home markets of China, where they have already begun operating fully autonomous robotaxis in some cities.

New regions the companies are expanding to include the Middle East, Europe and Asian countries such as Singapore. They have yet to receive full approvals to operate their robotaxis in most of those regions.

The permits that both companies have received to test and operate their self-driving vehicles became a contentious issue in the lead up to the listings.

According to local Chinese media reports, WeRide CFO Li Xuan claimed last week that Pony.ai had misinformed investors by understating the number of cities where WeRide had operations, among other issues.

Pony.ai did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.

In the U.S., both companies are aiming for a partnership with California-based Uber to allow them to deploy their robotaxis on the firm’s ride-hailing platform after receiving regulatory approval.

However, their U.S. plans face headwinds as earlier this year the government finalized a rule effectively banning Chinese technology in connected vehicles, including self-driving systems.

“With the uncertainty in the markets around the world and the fact that there would be intense scrutiny on a Pony or WeRide trying to enter the U.S. market, a dual listing is a lot about risk mitigation,” said Tu Le, founder and managing director at Sino Auto Insights.

He added that the listings were also an acknowledgement that it’s gonna take a lot of capital and an endorsement of a market outside the U.S. for Pony.ai and WeRide to succeed.

In U.S. trading on Wednesday, Pony.ai closed down about 2%, while WeRide fell 5.3%.

Hong Kong IPO shift

Pony.ai and WeRide’s competing listings highlight a recent trend of Chinese companies seeking dual listings in Hong Kong in what has been a bounce-back year for the city’s IPO market.

The companies received approval from Hong Kong regulators to dual list in mid-October.

“For the HK stock exchange, clustering the listing at the same time helps to reinforce investor perception of HK as a tech-hub for Asia-focused technology companies,” Rolf Bulk, equity research analyst at New Street Research told CNBC.

In May, Chinese battery manufacturer and technology company CATL completed a secondary listing in Hong Kong, raising $5.2 billion in the world’s largest IPO so far this year.

The growing trend emerges amid geopolitical tensions and regulatory uncertainty in the U.S.

According to New Street Research’s Bulk, the Hong Kong listings for Pony.ai and WeRide will help the companies gain access to Asia-based capital and expand their presence in China and the region.

“However, it will do nothing to advance the progress of their technology stack and regulatory approvals in Western markets. If anything, gaining approval in Western markets may be more challenging with a HK secondary listing,” he added.

The listings could also help the firms keep up with competitors such as Baidu’s Apollo Go in China and Alphabet’s Waymo in the U.S., which currently have larger fleets.

“Pony and WeRide are right up there among the global leaders,” said Sino Auto Insights’ Le. “WeRide has diversified their service portfolio a bit more but they both see Uber and the Middle East as two viable partners in their ability to get more pilots launched outside of China.”

“Investors should pay special attention to how their technology evolves with AI and other new tools becoming more mainstream,” Le said.

— CNBC’s Elaine Yu and Anniek Bao contributed to this report.

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Disney sues Hong Kong jewelry company over alleged illegal Mickey Mouse products

admin — Sat, 19 Jul 2025 17:29:40 +0000

The Walt Disney Co. on Wednesday sued a Hong Kong jewelry company it accuses of selling illegal Mickey Mouse jewelry.

The international media and entertainment conglomerate filed a lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles against the Red Earth Group, which sells jewelry online under the name Satéur.

Disney says the marketing and branding of the rings, necklaces and earrings in Satéur’s “Mickey 1928 Collection” violate its trademark rights and that the Hong Kong company is deliberately trying to fool customers into thinking the pieces are official Disney merchandise.

The Walt Disney Co. is suing a Hong Kong jewelry company, accusing it of selling illegal Mickey Mouse jewelry. chrisdorney – stock.adobe.com

Disney says the marketing and branding of Satéur’s “Mickey 1928 Collection” violates its trademark rights and that the company is trying to mislead customers into thinking the pieces are official Disney merchandise. Satéur

Satéur, the suit alleges, “intends to present Mickey Mouse as its own brand identifier for its jewelry merchandise and “seeks to trade on the recognizability of the Mickey Mouse trademarks and consumers’ affinity for Disney and its iconic ambassador Mickey Mouse.”

A message seeking comment from representatives of the Red Earth Group was not immediately answered.

The lawsuit is indicative of Disney’s dogged efforts to protect its intellectual property from unauthorized appropriation. Although the earliest version of Mickey Mouse entered the public domain last year after Disney’s copyright expired, the company still holds trademark rights to the character.

The lawsuit is part of Disney’s efforts to protect its intellectual property from unauthorized appropriation. Satéur

Lawyers for Disney argue in the suit that Red Earth’s online marketing efforts “extensively trade on the Mickey Mouse trademarks and the Disney brand” with language that includes describing the jewelry as great for “Disney enthusiasts.”

Such tactics indicate Red Earth was “intentionally trying to confuse consumers,” the lawsuit says. The impression created, it says, “suggests, at a minimum, a partnership or collaboration with Disney.”

The earliest depiction of Mickey Mouse, who first appeared publicly in the film short “Steamboat Willie” in 1928, are now in the U.S. public domain. The widely publicized moment was considered a landmark in iconography going public.

Mickey Mouse first appeared publicly in the film short “Steamboat Willie” in 1928. murdocksimages – stock.adobe.com

The lawsuit alleges that Red Earth and Satéur are trying to use that status as a “ruse” to suggest the jewelry is legal, by dubbing it the “Mickey 1928 Collection” and saying it is being sold in tribute to the mouse’s first appearance.

The centerpiece of the collection, the suit says, is a piece of jewelry marketed as the “Satéur Mickey 1928 Classique Ring,” which has a Steamboat Willie charm sitting on the band holding a synthetic stone.

According to the suit, the centerpiece of the collection is marketed as the “Satéur Mickey 1928 Classique Ring,” with a Steamboat Willie charm on a band, holding a synthetic stone. Satéur

But there is an essential difference between copyright — which protects works of art — and trademark — which protects a company’s brand.

Even if a character is in the public domain, it cannot be used on merchandise in a way that suggests it is from the company with the trademark, as Disney alleges Red Earth is doing.

“Disney remains committed to guarding against unlawful trademark infringement and protecting consumers from confusion caused by unauthorized uses of Mickey Mouse and our other iconic characters,” Disney said in a statement Wednesday.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction against Red Earth selling the jewelry or trading on Disney’s trademark in any other way, along with monetary damages to be determined later.

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Lee Shau-Kee, Hong Kong Real Estate Tycoon, Dies at 97

admin — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 01:25:47 +0000

Lee Shau-kee, a Hong Kong real estate tycoon who made his immense fortune building tens of thousands of apartments for middle-class descendants of refugees who had fled Communist mainland China, died on Monday. He was 97.

His death was announced by the company he founded, Henderson Land Development. It did not say where he died or cite a cause.

Well into his 70s, Mr. Lee became even wealthier through shrewd financial investments that prompted some to call him Hong Kong’s Warren Buffett. At his death, Forbes magazine estimated his worth at $29.2 billion, making him the 63rd wealthiest person in the world.

Mr. Lee founded Henderson Land Development in 1976. By the time he stepped down as its chairman and managing director in 2019 at age 91, the company had grown to 10,000 employees and spread beyond real estate development into hotels, department stores and natural gas distribution.

He started his career as a gold and currency dealer, reinvesting his profits in real estate. Most speculators and developers preferred higher-priced plots on the island of Hong Kong. But Mr. Lee was certain that the rising tide of hardworking, upwardly mobile refugees from the mainland and their descendants would send property prices soaring. He took a chance, buying up large chunks of cheap agricultural land in the New Territories bordering the mainland.

His business strategy, he said, was based on trends indicating that wages were rising far faster than property prices, putting apartments within reach of hundreds of thousands of buyers and renters. In the 1970s and ’80s, Henderson Land Development erected the new town of Sha Tin, which became home to more than a half-million people.

“Young couples were choosing to live in their own homes instead of with their parents as they had done traditionally,” Mr. Lee told his official biographer, Leung Fung-yee.

Mr. Lee himself lived in one of the nondescript residential towers that his company built throughout Hong Kong and liked to spend his leisure time golfing with fellow magnates.

As his real estate business grew, Mr. Lee staffed his management with relatives, including his children and nieces and nephews. At least 10 of them held senior positions; two sons, Peter and Martin, became joint chairmen in 2019.

Mr. Lee channeled most of his philanthropy through the Lee Shau-Kee Foundation, funding buildings and scholarships at universities in Hong Kong, China and other countries. The foundation also financed vocational training for farmers and rural doctors in mainland China.

Mr. Lee once considered making major investments abroad, he said, but decided in the end to stay on the island. “Elsewhere the taxes are too high,” he told Forbes in 1997, noting that in 1996, he collected $340 million in tax-free dividends, plowing most of this windfall back into his real estate ventures. “You couldn’t snowball your profits.”

Lee Shau-kee was born on Jan. 29, 1928, in Shunde, on the outskirts of Guangzhou, then known as Canton, in southern China, to Lee Gai-fu and Chan Luan-fung. His father, a well-to-do currency trader, sent him to Hong Kong in 1948 when Mao Zedong’s Communists were about to triumph over Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists in China’s civil war.

As a teenager, Mr. Lee became a gold trader, first with his father and then on his own. As an adult, he decided to move to Hong Kong and embark on real estate development. He co-founded Sun Hung Kai Properties with two other partners in 1963 and started Henderson Land Development on his own 13 years later.

Henderson became a publicly traded company in 1981, though a majority of its shares were owned by Lee family members.

Mr. Lee had occasional business fallouts with his relatives, most notably with his wife of 15 years, Lau Wai-kuen, whom he divorced in 1981. “I will not marry again because I’m afraid any woman would only see my money,” he told his biographer.

His survivors include his two sons, three daughters and his sister, Fung Lee Woon King, an executive director at Henderson Land Development.

Toward the end of the 20th century, economic and political trends undermined the Hong Kong real estate market that had propelled Mr. Lee into the ranks of the world’s richest people. With China embracing capitalist reforms, foreign investors rushed to set up factories and offices on the mainland, and Shanghai challenged Hong Kong as Asia’s pre-eminent financial capital. And with the end of British colonial rule in Hong Kong and its return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, the island-city lost some of its aura of a freewheeling business center. With fewer corporations setting up offices in Hong Kong, the local property market stagnated.

Mr. Lee’s critics predicted his empire’s decline, citing it as a cautionary tale about the perils facing a business that had outgrown its traditional, family-run organization.

“Lee Shau-kee is typical of the post-World War II generation of Chinese entrepreneurs in Asia,” the Far Eastern Economic Review said in a long profile of him in 2001. Despite building a profitable empire in the midst of turmoil, the magazine wrote, Mr. Lee “has had difficulties preparing it for a new generation and a new business environment.”

He proved such doomsayers wrong with profitable investments in financial stocks, derivatives and new ventures such as paper manufacturing. His touch was so sure that he tried to hide his investment plans from speculators trying to follow his every move.

At the same time, Mr. Lee was growing increasingly impatient with his heirs. In 1998, he told Hong Kong journalists that after a decade of tutelage in the family business, his oldest son, Peter, was not ready to succeed him. “He gets only a passing grade now,” Mr. Lee said.

At the time, investors and financial analysts were even less impressed by another son, Martin, who had to overcome a youthful passion for sports cars and nightlife.

But they regained his confidence over the years, and took control of the company after Mr. Lee stepped down.

For their part, Mr. Lee’s sons professed loyalty to their father and urged him to retain leadership of the family business as long as possible. “I will be the first one to ask him not to retire,” Peter Lee told The South China Morning Post in 2001.

The sentiment was in keeping with Mr. Lee’s own strong sense of filial piety. In 1996, he built a four-story mausoleum, topped with a tower embedded with semiprecious stones, on an acre in his family’s ancestral village of Daliang, in the southern Pearl River Delta. He buried his parents there.

Ash Wu contributed reporting.

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Tencent shares fall 8% in Hong Kong after U.S. designates it a Chinese military company

admin — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 07:56:46 +0000

Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Shares of Chinese tech heavyweight Tencent Holdings tumbled nearly 8% in Hong Kong after the company was added to a list of “Chinese military companies” by the U.S. Department of Defense.

The move mirrors an 8% fall in Tencent’s U.S. depository receipts on Wall Street.

Other Chinese companies added to the list included battery maker CATL, which is part of the supply chain for automakers such as Ford and Tesla.

CATL shares, which fell as much as 5.6%, were last down 2.8% in Shenzhen.

The National Defence Authorization Act of 2024 says that the DoD will be prohibited from procuring goods or services directly from entities on the list in June 2026, and indirectly from June 2027.

In response to the decision, Tencent said in a statement that its inclusion on the list was “clearly a mistake.”

“We are not a military company or supplier. Unlike sanctions or export controls, this listing has no impact on our business,” the company added. CATL also called the designation “a mistake” in a response, saying it “is not engaged in any military related activities.”

Tencent has a good chance of managing to secure its exclusion from the list through U.S. courts due to the company’s business model, which primarily revolves around social networking and online gaming, said Ivan Su, senior equity analyst at Morningstar.

He pegs the fair value for Tencent shares at 704 Hong Kong dollars apiece, with represents an 86.14% upside to the current share price of HK$378.2.

Separately, Vincent Su, also senior equity analyst at Morningstar, said that CATL being included in the list “may discourage U.S. customers from purchasing the company’s energy storage system, or ESS, batteries in the future.”

The U.S. has been taking steps to restrict transfer of high-end technologies to China. Last year, it revoked certain licenses to sell chips to China’s Huawei in May and unveiled new sweeping export controls on critical technologies in September, including quantum computing and semiconductor goods.

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