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$340 billion Valuation: Robin Li's Largest IPO, Kunlun Semiconductor Shares in High Demand

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As Baidu's AI chip core asset, Kunlun Chip is expected to have a post-IPO market value exceeding that of Baidu, becoming a key factor in its turnaround strategy.

Original Title: "Robin Li's Biggest IPO Is Coming"

"Unable to Grab Shares."

This scene is unfolding at Kunlun Core. Since submitting a confidential filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at the beginning of the year, Kunlun Core's IPO is getting closer. Now is the stage of scrambling for cornerstone shares.

Thus, Robin Li's biggest IPO emerges—according to foreign media reports, Kunlun Core is targeting a valuation of around $50 billion (around 340 billion RMB). If listed, its market cap will exceed Baidu. With such a scale, it's no wonder Kunlun Core has always been seen by the outside world as the most valuable asset in Baidu's AI story.

This Baidu turnaround battle is about to reveal its outcome.

Robin Li's Biggest IPO: Will Surpass Baidu

At this moment, emotions are running high.

Let's go back to the beginning of this year, Baidu announced—a Kunlun Core has submitted a listing application form A1 to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange through its joint sponsors in confidence, to apply for approval for Kunlun Core's shares to be listed and traded on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Since then, Kunlun Core's Hong Kong IPO actions have been consistently underwater. Now, half a year has passed, and as the IPO preparations continue to advance, Kunlun Core has reached a critical stage before listing. According to The Information, the company has now been in contact with potential institutional investors.

This is the final window for investors to enter Kunlun Core through the primary market, but the threshold is not low: it is reported that Kunlun Core prioritizes investors who commit to purchasing cores in the placement, requiring the value of the purchased chips to be 3 to 7 times the subscription amount.

This means that investors who want to get Kunlun Core's cornerstone shares have to first "allocate." In this way, pure financial investors may be left out. Kunlun Core favors industrial investors who already have the ability to make continuous purchases.

Only a few will eventually make it to the table. An investor told Investment Review, "The competition for cornerstone shares is fierce," and more people find it "difficult to get a seat."

Undoubtedly, the outside world has high hopes for Kunlun Core. It is reported that Kunlun Core is targeting a valuation of around $50 billion (around 340 billion RMB). This is not groundless. According to IDC data, in the Chinese AI accelerator server market in 2025, Kunlun Core and Cambricon are tied for third place among domestic manufacturers, each shipping around 116,000 cards.

Previously, a Goldman Sachs report pointed out that if the market gives Kunlun Core a valuation multiple similar to Cambricon's, the equity value held by Baidu could be as high as $22 billion. At a time when AI computing power demand is surging, Cambricon's market value surpassed a trillion this week.

And so, the scene of fierce competition for Kunlun's cornerstone shares unfolded.

Of course, Baidu will be the biggest winner. Thinking back to the beginning of the year when Robin Li explained in an announcement that one of the benefits of Kunlun's spin-off listing was to enhance Kunlun's image among its customers, suppliers, and potential strategic partners to attract more business, Baidu will also benefit from its stake in its growth.

The impact was immediate. After the news came out, Baidu saw a four-day consecutive increase in its stock price, with its latest market capitalization in Hong Kong exceeding HK$300 billion. If Kunlun achieves its $50 billion valuation target, as its controlling shareholder, Baidu's stake will be worth over a hundred billion. In this way, Robin Li has yet another shining moment—Kunlun's market value will surpass that of Baidu.

An Assembly of Investors: Awaiting a Super Return

Stealthy, low-key, yet already a source of pride for Robin Li.

The story of Kunlun can be traced back to 2011 when it was formerly part of Baidu's Intelligent Chip and Architecture Division. A team composed of top talents from companies such as Baidu, Qualcomm, Marvell, and Tesla embarked on Baidu's journey into chip development.

It wasn't until 2021 that Baidu officially spun off its Kunlun chip business and established a new company—Kunlun Core (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. Along with the spin-off came a lavish financing round, with CPE Grandview as the lead investor and other participants including IDG Capital, Junlian Capital, Yunhe Capital, valuing the company at approximately 13 billion yuan at that time.

Since then, Kunlun began to be well known to the public.

However, this was also the only time Kunlun publicly announced its financing. According to business records, Kunlun underwent several changes in ownership over the following five years, with many prominent investment institutions joining the table—one after another. In July 2022, new shareholders such as Universal Technology Venture Capital, China-Bit Fund, and Qianshan Capital were added; just half a month later, Citic Securities and Linxin Investment also became Kunlun's shareholders.

In 2023, investors like BYD, Zhongguancun Science City Co., Sanya Yuhai Fund, China Internet Investment Fund, and more appeared one by one. Subsequently, a number of institutions joined, including the National Social Security Fund Zhongguancun Independent Innovation Special Fund, Beijing Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund, Shunxi Fund, Citic Jiantou Capital, and more, making the lineup even more luxurious.

Perhaps the preparations for the listing have long been underway, as in July of last year Kunlun suddenly added 15 new shareholders, including funds under China Mobile, Beijing Government Guided Fund, Beijing Shan Gao Jun Tai Fund, Guohai Innovation Capital, and Zhongjin Capital, creating a competitive atmosphere that leaves much to the imagination.

As of today, Kunlun has a total of 57 shareholders behind it. It is foreseeable that with Kunlun's listing, another wave of collective wealth creation in the Hong Kong stock market will be witnessed.

With the support of a tech giant, Kunlun Chip is definitely a force to be reckoned with. Currently, Kunlun Chip's flagship product is the P800, which was launched in 2024 to compete with NVIDIA's A800. It is built on the Samsung 7nm process and primarily targets data center inference scenarios. In addition, the Kunlun Chip M100, which is optimized for large-scale inference scenarios, was launched in early 2026. The Kunlun Chip M300 is designed for ultra-large-scale multimodal model training and inference scenarios, and is planned to be launched in 2027.

Compared to its competitors, Kunlun Chip not only receives orders from internal business lines such as search, cloud computing, and autonomous driving; it also has major state-owned enterprise clients such as China Mobile, Southern Power Grid, and China Merchants Bank. The most significant deal was last August when Kunlun Chip ranked first in all three packages in the China Mobile centralized procurement project, securing a billion-dollar order.

As the child grows up, Kunlun Chip is stepping out of Baidu's shadow. At a recent AI Development Conference, Kunlun Chip's VP of R&D, Qi Wei, revealed that apart from providing chips to Baidu, the company's commercial scale serving external clients is expanding rapidly. Currently, the proportion of external business has exceeded that of supplying to Baidu internally.

“Early to Rise for a Late Show”: Turning the Tide

On this day, Robin Li waited for a long time.

Speaking of which, Baidu was the first internet company to proclaim "All in AI." During the Big Model War, Baidu's Wenxin AI first appeared, becoming one of the earliest ChatGPT-like products in China, shining brightly for a while.

However, reality is harsh.

After enduring several years of ups and downs, the domestic large model landscape has taken shape. On one side, competitors like Douyin and Qianwen from tech giants have gradually captured users' minds; on the other side, AI newcomers have also caught up. Last week, Zhipu's market value once exceeded a trillion. Although it has since fallen back, it is still close to three Baidus.

Not to mention that DeepSeek's post-investment valuation in the first round of financing is close to 400 billion, and Kimi's valuation has also risen to 31.5 billion U.S. dollars (about 210 billion RMB) in a new round of financing. In contrast, Baidu has repeatedly left the impression on outsiders of "early to rise for a late show."

In this situation, Baidu can hardly avoid feeling anxious.

Now is the opportunity that Baidu cannot afford to miss. Demonstrations have been made in the secondary market by MoorThread, Muxi, and others; Cambrian's market value has also reached a new high; and the most eye-catching is Changxin Technology, whose Science and Technology Innovation Board IPO has successfully passed the hearing... It is clear to see that the explosive growth of AI computing power is transmitting throughout the entire semiconductor industry chain.

And in Baidu's AI story, Kunlun Chip is precisely seen as the most valuable underlying asset. In early May, Kunlun Chip officially initiated the Sci-Tech Innovation Board (STAR Market) listing guidance and concurrently promoted a dual-line "A+H" IPO. Facing a fleeting window of opportunity, Baidu is fighting against the clock.

This inevitably brings to mind that ten years ago, Robin Li had predicted that the era of artificial intelligence was imminent and would bring endless possibilities. "For Baidu, if it can seize the opportunity of artificial intelligence, five to ten years later, Baidu can transform into a completely different company."

Once missed again, it will truly fall far behind.