Today, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was overwhelmed again.

Today (July 9), seven IPOs simultaneously rang the gong at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange —

Luxshare Precision, Dintai High-Tech, RIGOL Technologies, Sunstar Group, Qiyunshan Food, Rokae Robotics, and Dongfang Kemi set a new record for the largest number of single-day IPOs on the HKEX so far this year.

As morning trading opened, newly listed stocks began to fall below their issue prices: Luxshare Precision traded 5% under its offering price, Dintai High-Tech dropped over 9%, and RIGOL Technologies saw its decline approach 20%. Sunstar Group opened flat, while Dongfang Kemi edged slightly higher after a lower opening. On the other side, Qiyunshan Food surged more than 110%, and Rokae Robotics posted a modest gain, with a market capitalization of approximately HK$100 billion.

At this very moment, the queue of companies heading to Hong Kong for IPOs is massive. But amid the bustle, extreme market divergence is also unfolding.

The HKEX is buzzing: 7 IPOs in a single day

Four of these new listings are "A+H" dual-share offerings.

Luxshare Precision has pulled off the largest IPO on the Hong Kong stock market this year, led by a female chairperson — Wang Laichun. In her early years, she started as a factory assembly line worker, later founded her own contract manufacturing business from scratch, and rose to fame through her partnership with Apple. Luxshare Precision listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2010, and now boasts a market cap of nearly 450 billion yuan as the leading "Apple chain stock" on the A-share market.

For this Hong Kong listing, Luxshare Precision raised a total of approximately HK$24.3 billion, with overwhelming public subscription enthusiasm. A consortium of 26 cornerstone investors including Singapore's Temasek, GIC, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Tencent, and Hillhouse collectively subscribed for over HK$11 billion worth of shares.

Dintai High-Tech is also led by a female chairperson — Wang Xin. Moving south to pursue opportunities at age 16, she founded Dintai High-Tech in 2005 and grew the company specializing in PCB micro-tools to a nearly 200-billion-yuan market valuation. This offering saw H-share public subscriptions oversubscribed 354 times, with 16 cornerstone investors including Shenzhen Hongfa Technology, Hillhouse, E Fund Management, and Barings collectively subscribing for roughly HK$1.991 billion.

Sunstar Group is a global leader in electronic ceramics, with cornerstone investors including Temasek, CPE Yuanfeng, Alibaba, and Tencent participating in its Hong Kong offering. RIGOL Technologies, an electronic measurement instrument enterprise, saw its H-share offering oversubscribed 78 times, with 7 cornerstone investors including Hillhouse and Sungrow Power Investment joining the deal.

Rokae Robotics listed on the HKEX, earning the title of "first full-series intelligent robotics stock". Its founder Tuo Hua is currently pursuing a PhD in mechanical engineering at Harbin Institute of Technology. This public offering was 156 times oversubscribed, with GF Fund Management and Huatai Capital acting as cornerstone investors.

Qiyunshan Food, based in Jiangxi province and famous for its sour jujube cake products, is known as the "first wild jujube snack stock". Dongfang Kemi, the world's second-largest e-paper display manufacturer, was originally scheduled to list on July 7 but was delayed to today for unforeseen reasons. Unlike the other companies listing on the same day, these two did not introduce cornerstone investors.

With this, another iconic moment was born at the HKEX — seven gongs ringing for seven IPOs in a single day.

A warning sign: Prices are dropping below issue prices

"The HKEX is getting overcrowded" — this sentiment leaves people with mixed feelings.

So far this year, the gong at the HKEX has barely stopped ringing. Including the five companies that listed the previous day and Tongrentang Elderly Care which went public on July 7, 13 new stocks have landed on the HKEX this week, with two more coming tomorrow. 15 IPOs in a single week is truly a rare sight.

In terms of volume, the HKEX is experiencing a bumper IPO year. Reports from Zero2IPO Research Center show that 82 Chinese enterprises listed on the Hong Kong stock market in the first half of the year, marking a 110.3% year-on-year increase; total financing amounted to approximately 163.324 billion yuan, up 105.8% year-on-year.

Among these listings, the "A+H" cohort is especially large. Data shows that 24 companies conducted "A+H" dual listings in Hong Kong during the first half of the year, exceeding the total of 19 for the entire year of 2025. These 24 companies raised a combined financing amount of 95.651 billion yuan, accounting for nearly 60% of the total funds raised.

In other words, the large-cap A-share companies conducting secondary listings in Hong Kong have siphoned off the vast majority of capital from the market.

Recall that a few months ago, participating in new Hong Kong stock offerings was all the rage. Back then, the profit-making effect was obvious, and massive amounts of capital flooded in. Even companies with unremarkable fundamentals could achieve strong gray market and first-day performances driven by sentiment premiums. An EY report showed that the average first-day return for new Hong Kong stocks in the first half of the year reached 61%, with the maximum profit from one lot of newly subscribed shares hitting HK$33,000.

But entering the second half of the year, the narrative around Hong Kong stock IPOs has subtly shifted. Most newly listed stocks show weak first-day performance, even falling deep below their issue prices.

Tongrentang Elderly Care's experience is particularly memorable. As the fourth listed company under the Tongrentang Group, it originally planned to list in Hong Kong back in March, but unexpectedly withdrew its application at the last minute. After nearly four months of re-preparation, it finally debuted on the IPO stage — only to see its price break below the issue price immediately at opening. On July 7, Tongrentang Elderly Care closed down nearly 40% on its first trading day.

Anker Innovations, with an A-share market cap exceeding 60 billion yuan, also failed to avoid this fate. It listed in Hong Kong on July 2 with 11 institutional supporters, but its price dropped over 9% at one point during the first trading day. The five companies that listed on July 8 also posted muted performances: Rayze Technology tumbled over 27% in early trading; Basic Semi, whose Hong Kong public offering was over 4,800 times oversubscribed, saw a maximum first-day gain of only around 18%.

With more and more companies ringing the IPO gong, investors are beginning to quietly worry: "Can the Hong Kong stock market absorb all these new listings?"

Rushing to seize the IPO window

The hot get hotter, the cold get colder

The IPO market is becoming increasingly divided.

In the cohort of stocks trading below their issue prices, companies from traditional manufacturing, food and beverage, non-ferrous metals, and hardware equipment industries are clustered together. Some of these offerings have P/E ratios significantly higher than their industry benchmarks, leading to rapid price corrections immediately after listing. This phenomenon is particularly common among small and mid-sized enterprises with smaller market capitalizations and fragile liquidity, where even a small volume of sell orders can trigger a sharp stock price crash.

As the AI wave surges forward, the narrative of the Hong Kong stock market has been reshaped. Terms like large AI models, computing power chips, and robotics have replaced the old themes of consumer, real estate, and finance sectors, becoming the new focus of the Hong Kong new stock market. Capital is clearly flowing toward these high-growth innovative technology enterprises, and it is concentrated almost exclusively on large leading players.

Stock price performance tells the most intuitive story. Since Zhipu AI listed on the Hong Kong stock market at an issue price of HK$116.2 in January this year, its peak share price once surged to HK$2,980, pushing its market capitalization past HK$1.2 trillion. Even after recent corrections, its total cumulative gain still exceeds 15 times. MiniMax also saw its price jump from its HK$165 issue price to a peak of HK$1,330.

The dreaded share lock-up expiration wave that the market fears has also shown different trends. On July 8, Zhipu AI saw its first massive unlock of restricted shares after listing. Surprisingly, its market cap soared by more than HK$100 billion on the first day after the unlock, with nearly 70% of its cornerstone investors declaring their intention to hold shares long-term. The trading day before MiniMax's lock-up expiration also saw a flood of capital inflows, with its share price rising over 20% at one point during the session.

But for the vast majority of companies, the curse of "sharp price drops immediately after lock-up expiration" still cannot be avoided. A recent example is Yunzhisheng, known as the "first Hong Kong stock for AGI". One year after its listing, on the day its restricted shares were unlocked, its price plunged nearly 50% at the lowest point during trading.

The contrast between these two market scenarios is stark. Similar stories keep repeating in the Hong Kong stock market: without sustained commercial performance to back them up, even the most compelling industry narratives cannot withstand the selling pressure from a concentrated exodus of shareholders.

Looking ahead, the number of pending Hong Kong stock listing applications (including confidentially submitted filings) has exceeded 500, hitting a new all-time high. The queue is massive, and every company's eagerness to get listed is palpable. But successfully getting listed is not the end goal — a well-performing listing is what counts as a true success.

The hot sectors are getting hotter, and the cold sectors are getting colder. The dividing line has never been so distinct.

This article originates from the WeChat Official Account "Investment Circle", authored by Zhou Jiali, and is republished by 36Kr with authorization.