Turning point: China doubles IPOs in 2025 amid eased curbs to drive tech innovation
CSRC reforms revive fundraising momentum with 115 firms generating US$18.3 billion across mainland China’s exchanges
Initial public offerings (IPOs) in mainland China nearly doubled in 2025 from a year earlier after the securities regulator rolled back curbs on new listings and resumed approvals for pre-profit technology companies, in line with Beijing’s drive to replace imported tech products with home-grown alternatives.
A total of 115 companies raised a combined 128 billion yuan (US$18.3 billion) from IPOs on the Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing exchanges this year, according to Bloomberg data.
That eclipsed the 67.4 billion yuan in 2024, when the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) slowed down approvals of new offerings and tightened the scrutiny of applicants to bolster confidence in the stock market.
Several high-profile offerings followed the regulatory relaxation. Moore Threads Technology and MetaX Integrated Circuits – two Chinese graphics processing unit (GPU) developers seen as challengers to Nvidia – completed first-time stock sales in Shanghai.
The rebound in mainland China IPOs coincided with a listings boom in Hong Kong, where demand was revived by offerings of leading Chinese companies that have dominant positions in their industries.
“We saw a bunch of policies in 2025 that encouraged IPOs, and the pace of new share sales is expected to accelerate in 2026,” said Wang Zhengzhi, an analyst at Guotai Haitong Securities. “Further reforms will be pushed forward and that will boost the inclusiveness of the multilayer capital markets.”
In June, the CSRC reintroduced rules allowing unprofitable tech companies to list on Shanghai’s tech-heavy Star Market, which is modelled after the Nasdaq to support fundraising by companies like chipmakers and biopharmaceutical firms.
That move marked a shift from earlier curbs, when the CSRC stepped up inspections of listing documents and tightened approvals amid investor complaints about poor-quality offerings contributing to stock declines.
China’s A-share IPO market delivered a stronger performance in 2025, with the Shanghai Stock Exchange retaining its position as the world’s fifth-largest bourse by IPO fundraising, according to Deloitte.
Ongoing reforms have laid “a solid foundation” for A-share IPO activity to gain momentum in 2026 and potentially deliver a stronger performance than in 2025, said Tony Huang, Deloitte China’s A-share offering national leader for capital market services.
Huang said companies in sectors prioritised under China’s 15th five-year plan — including artificial intelligence, new energy, high-end manufacturing, commercial aerospace, quantum technology and biomanufacturing — were likely to have an advantage when seeking A-share listings and fundraising.
Deloitte forecast steady growth in both the number of A-share listings and total funds raised in 2026, as overall market liquidity was likely to continue receiving policy support, including measures to encourage long-term capital – such as insurance funds – to enter the market.
The largest IPO in 2025 was Huadian New Energy Group, the wind and solar power producer that raised 18.2 billion yuan in Shanghai, according to Bloomberg data. GPU maker Moore Threads’ 8 billion yuan sale ranked second, followed by silicon wafer maker Xian ESWIN Material Technology with 4.6 billion yuan.
No IPO shares fell below their offer prices on their debut, partly because the regulator capped valuations at 23 times earnings to prevent flops – an unwritten rule in the market.
Harbin Shimada Big Bird Industrial, which makes cleaning robots, surged 13-fold on its first day of trading in November in Shenzhen, making it the best-performing IPO of 2025, Bloomberg data showed. It was followed by Hengdongguang Communication Technology, the optical component maker that surged 919 per cent in its Shenzhen debut, and motor maker Changzhou 3X Motion Technologies with a 693 per cent first trading-day gain.
Tire maker Zhongce Rubber Group was the weakest performer, rising 6.84 per cent in its Shanghai debut in June.
China’s benchmark CSI 300 Index rose nearly 20 per cent last year, with the Star Market rising more than 30 per cent.