Alibaba plans Hong Kong listing for chip subsidiary T-Head

Alibaba plans to float its semiconductor subsidiary T-Head in Hong Kong after receiving permission from the city’s stock exchange to pursue a spin-off, CNBC World Economy reported. The Chinese technology and e-commerce group announced the move late on Tuesday, although the proposed share offering still requires regulatory clearance before it can proceed.

The listing is subject to approval from both the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Alibaba said it had submitted a confidential listing application on 11 September. Its latest filing gave neither a timetable for the flotation nor a proposed offering size, leaving those details of the transaction undisclosed.

T-Head’s planned market debut follows Alibaba’s announcement in late September of its next-generation artificial intelligence chip, the Zhenwu V900. The company said the new processor delivers three times the performance of the Zhenwu M890, its predecessor, which was released in May. That performance comparison was Alibaba’s own assessment, as reported by CNBC.

Alibaba is among a group of Chinese companies, including Huawei, developing domestic semiconductors for artificial intelligence as the US increases restrictions on China’s access to chips. The T-Head proposal therefore comes alongside efforts by Chinese technology groups to build homegrown processors for AI applications.

Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed shares were about 1% lower on Wednesday morning, taking their decline for the year to roughly 29%, according to CNBC. The outlet said Chinese technology stocks had lagged their US counterparts despite investor enthusiasm last year over AI advances by DeepSeek.

The wider Chinese chip-listing pipeline has also faced delays. CNBC cited reports this month that Baidu had postponed the flotation of its AI chip business Kunlunxin, while memory-chip producer YMTC had also delayed its listing. Neither company immediately answered requests for comment. Chinese financial regulators have stepped up scrutiny of technology IPOs and capital flowing into the sector in recent months, CNBC reported.