Investors couldn't grab a share, and Li Yanhong's biggest IPO surfaced
Author: Wu Qiong, Investors PEDaily
Original title: Li Yanhong's biggest IPO is here
“Can't grab a share.”
This scene is appearing on Kunlun Core. Since the filing was confidentially submitted to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at the beginning of the year, Kunlunchip's listing is getting closer and closer. Now is the time to compete for a share of the cornerstone.
Thus, Li Yanhong's biggest IPO has surfaced — according to foreign media reports, Kunlunchip's target valuation is about 50 billion US dollars (about 340 billion yuan). If it goes public, its market value will surpass Baidu. With such size, it's no wonder that Kunlun Core is always regarded by the outside world as the most valuable asset in Baidu's AI stories.
Baidu's turnaround battle will soon be clear.
Li Yanhong's biggest IPO will surpass Baidu
Right now, the mood is strong.
Back in time at the beginning of this year, Baidu announced that Kunlunchip has submitted a confidential listing application form (Form A1) to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange through its co-sponsor to apply for approval to list and trade Kunlunchip shares on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Since then, the IPO of Kunlun Core Hong Kong shares has always been carried out underwater. Now that half a year has passed, and as preparations for the IPO continue to advance, Kunlunchip has reached a critical stage before listing. According to The Information, the company is currently in contact with potential investment institutions.
This is the last window for investors to enter Kunlun Chip through the primary market, but the threshold is not low: According to reports, Kunlun Chip gives priority to investors who promise to buy chips during distribution, and requires that the purchased chip value reach 3 to 7 times the subscription amount.
This means that if investors want to get the cornerstone share of Kunlun Core, they must first “distribute” the goods. As a result, simple financial investors may be stopped at the door. Kunlun Core is more favored by industrial investors who themselves have the ability to continuously purchase.
In the end, only a few make it to the table. One investor told the investment community that “competition for the share of the cornerstone is fierce” and that more people are “hard to find a seat.”
Needless to say, the outside world has high expectations for Kunlun Core. According to reports, Kunlun Core's target valuation is about 50 billion US dollars (about 340 billion yuan). This is not out of the blue. According to IDC data, in the 2025 Chinese AI accelerator server market, Kunlun Core and Cambrian are tied for third place among domestic manufacturers, each shipping about 116,000 cards.
Earlier, the Goldman Sachs Research Report pointed out that if the market gave Kunlun Core a valuation multiple similar to the Cambrian period, the equity value held by Baidu would be as high as 22 billion US dollars. At a time when demand for AI computing power exploded, the Cambrian market capitalization surpassed trillion dollars this week.
As a result, there was a fierce competition for shares of Kunlun Core Cornerstone.
Of course, Baidu will be the biggest winner. Recall that Li Yanhong explained in an announcement at the beginning of the year that one of the benefits that Kunlunchip's spin-off will bring is to enhance Kunlunchip's image among its customers, suppliers, and potential strategic partners to gain more business. Baidu will also benefit from its growth through shareholding.
The effect was immediate. After this news came out, Baidu rose for four consecutive trading days, and the latest market value of Hong Kong stocks exceeded HK$300 billion. If Kunlunchip's target valuation of 50 billion US dollars is achieved, Baidu's shareholding value will exceed 100 billion dollars as its controlling shareholder. In this way, Li Yanhong also ushered in another bright moment — Kunlunchip's market value will surpass Baidu.
Investors gather to wait for a super return
It is secret and low-key, yet it has become a masterpiece Li Yanhong is proud of.
The story of Kunlun Core can be traced back to 2011. The predecessor was Baidu's Smart Chip and Architecture Department. A team from leading companies such as Baidu, Qualcomm, Marvell, and Tesla began Baidu's path of core development.
Until 2021, Baidu will officially become independent of its Kunlun chip business and establish a new company, Kunlun Chip (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. Along with Independence, there was also a luxury financing. The lead investor was CPE Yuanfeng. Investors included IDG Capital, Junlian Capital, Yuanhe Puhua, etc., with a valuation of about 13 billion yuan at the time.
Since then, Kunlun Core has been well known to the outside world.
However, this is the only time Kunlunchip has publicly announced financing. However, according to corporate research, Kunlunchip completed several shareholding changes in five years, and many well-known investment institutions took office one after another — in July 2022, shareholders such as General Technology Venture Capital, Zhongbi Fund, and Qianshan Capital were added; just half a month later, CITIC Securities and Linxin Investment also became Kunlunchip shareholders.
In 2023, BYD, Zhongguancun Science City Company, Sanya Yuhai Fund, and China Internet Investment Fund appeared one by one; since then, there has been no shortage of faces such as the Social Security Fund Zhongguancun Independent Innovation Special Fund, the Beijing Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund, Shunxi Fund, and CITIC Construction Investment Capital, and the lineup has become more luxurious.
Perhaps the listing was already under way. In July of last year, Kunlunchip added 15 new shareholders in one fell swoop, including China Mobile's fund, Beijing Government Guidance Fund, Beijing Shangao Juntai Fund, Guohai Innovation Capital, and CICC Capital. The meaning of the dispute is imaginable.
As of today, a total of 57 shareholders have gathered behind Kunlunxin. It is foreseeable that with the listing of Kunlun Chip, it will create another wave of collective wealth in Hong Kong stocks.
Backed by the resources of major manufacturers, Kunlun Core should not be underestimated. Currently, Kunlun Chip's main product is the P800, which will be launched in 2024. It is the benchmark for the Nvidia A800 and uses Samsung's 7nm manufacturing process, which is mainly aimed at data center inference scenarios. Furthermore, the Kunlun Core M100, which is mainly optimized for large-scale inference scenarios, was launched in early 2026. The Kunlun Core M300 is mainly aimed at large-scale multi-modal model training and inference scenarios, and is scheduled to be launched in 2027.
Compared to its peers, Kunlunchip not only has order support for the Group's internal business lines such as search, cloud computing, and autonomous driving; it also has large state-owned enterprise customers such as China Mobile, China Southern Power Grid, and China Merchants Bank. The most critical one is that in August of last year, in China's mobile collection project, all three Kunlun Core packages ranked first, winning a billion-level order.
My family is growing up, and Kunlun Core is stepping out of Baidu's protection. At the recent Zhiyuan conference, Qi Wei, vice president of R&D at Kunlunchip, revealed that in addition to providing Baidu with chips, the scale of the company's commercialization for external customers continues to expand, and currently the share of external business has exceeded internal supply to Baidu.
“I woke up early in the morning and caught up in the late episode” turned over to the first battle
Li Yanhong waited a long time for this day.
Speaking of which, Baidu was the first internet company to call out “All in AI.” Baidu Wenxin was the first to debut during the Baimo War, becoming one of the earliest ChatGPT-like products in China. At one point, it was a hit.
It's just, the reality is very boring.
After several years of big waves, the pattern of big domestic models has been decided — on this side, Doubao, Qianwen, etc. also from big manufacturers have gradually taken over the minds of users; on the other side, AI rookies have also taken the lead. Last week, the market value of Smart Spectrum once surpassed trillion dollars. Although it has declined so far, it is still close to three Baidu's.
Needless to say, DeepSeek's valuation after the first round of financing was close to 400 billion yuan; Kimi's valuation also rose to 31.5 billion US dollars (about 210 billion yuan) in the new round of financing. Looking at Baidu on the other hand, time and time again it left the impression that “I got up early in the morning and caught up in the evening.”
In this situation, it's hard for Baidu not to be anxious.
Right now, this is an opportunity Baidu cannot miss. Moore Thread, Mu Xi, etc. have already set an example in the secondary market; the Cambrian era also hit a new high market capitalization; what is even more popular is Changxin Technology, which has now successfully passed the Science and Technology Innovation Board IPO... As can be seen with the naked eye, the explosive growth in AI computing power is being transmitted to the entire semiconductor industry chain.
In Baidu's AI story, Kunlun Core is regarded as the most valuable underlying asset. At the beginning of May, Kunlunchip officially launched the Science and Technology Innovation Board listing guidance and simultaneously promoted the “A+H” dual-line IPO. Faced with the fleeting window period, Baidu is desperately scrambling to compete for a window of time.
This reminds me that ten years ago, Li Yanhong judged that the era of artificial intelligence is coming and will bring endless possibilities. “For Baidu, if it can seize the opportunity of artificial intelligence, after five to ten years, Baidu can become a completely different company.”
If you miss it again, you'll really be completely left behind.
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