Alibaba, JPMorgan said to back Chinese chip firm’s Hong Kong listing

Chinese chip designer Montage Technology is set to enlist Alibaba Group Holding and JPMorgan Asset Management among the key investors in its upcoming Hong Kong listing, according to people familiar with the matter, in a sign of promising demand for the city’s latest share sale related to artificial intelligence.

Alibaba and the JPMorgan Chase asset manager were participating as cornerstone investors, which get guaranteed allocation in exchange for holding the shares for a period of time, the people said, asking not to be identified because they were not authorised to speak publicly. The listing could raise about US$900 million – or more, if the underwriters exercise the so-called overallotment option, some of the people said.

Other cornerstone investors in the deal included Scotland-based asset manager Aberdeen Group, South Korea’s Mirae Asset Securities and UBS Group’s asset-management arm, the people added.

Montage, whose shares are already traded in Shanghai, was set to start taking investor orders as early as Friday, according to other people familiar with the transaction. The company may list its shares as soon as this month.

Representatives for Aberdeen and UBS declined to comment. Montage, Alibaba, JPMorgan and Mirae Asset did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Deliberations were ongoing, and details of the deal could change, the sources said. Alibaba owns the Post.

Founded in 2004, Montage designs chips that help speed data flows within data centres and AI accelerators. Its shares gained 73 per cent last year, with the company currently valued at about US$22 billion.

The company reported a profit of 1.4 billion yuan (US$196 million) for 2024, with the metric possibly rising to 2.3 billion yuan in 2025 and 3.3 billion yuan in 2026, according to analysts polled by Bloomberg.