Alibaba plans Hong Kong listing for chip subsidiary T-Head

Chinese technology giant Alibaba announced Tuesday plans to spin off and separately list its semiconductor subsidiary T-Head, a rival to US chipmaker Nvidia, on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The exchange has cleared Alibaba to proceed with the proposed spin-off, according to a regulatory filing. T-Head submitted a confidential listing application on Sept. 11.

The proposed transaction would comprise a public offering in Hong Kong and a placement to institutional and professional investors.

T-Head, a wholly owned subsidiary providing data center chips and computing solutions in China, is expected to remain an Alibaba subsidiary following the listing.

The offering’s size and structure, along with the extent of the reduction in Alibaba’s shareholding, have not been finalized.

Alibaba said a separate listing would help investors assess T-Head independently, strengthen its profile among customers and partners, and provide direct access to equity and debt financing.

The transaction remains subject to Hong Kong listing approval, completion of filing procedures with China’s securities regulator and final decisions by both companies.

Alibaba said there was no assurance the spin-off would proceed or when it might take place.

Scrutiny of chipmakers, mixed IPO outlook

The announcement comes as Nvidia faces scrutiny following reports that CEO Jensen Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence effort.

Huang acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife in a statement Sunday and pledged to cooperate with an independent investigation. Nvidia’s board said it had no reason to believe US national security or company secrets had been compromised.

The company’s independent directors said Tuesday they had retained former federal prosecutor Joon H. Kim and law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conduct the inquiry.

Meanwhile, US artificial intelligence company Anthropic outlined an initial public offering (IPO) of 825 million shares at an estimated price of $70-$78 apiece in an updated regulatory filing Tuesday.

The offering, comprising shares sold by Anthropic and existing shareholders, could total $64.35 billion at the upper end of the range. The company has applied to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker “ANT.”

Other Chinese chipmakers face reported delays to their listing plans.

Bloomberg reported that Baidu’s AI chip unit Kunlunxin could postpone its Hong Kong IPO until 2027 while awaiting Chinese regulatory approval. A Baidu representative rejected what the company described as market rumors and said it could not disclose material nonpublic information during the confidential filing process.