Tenfold growth! In the first quarter, Guangdong's IPO fundraising accounted for nearly a quarter of the national total, with over 80% in hard technology.

Ask AI · More than 80% of hard-tech companies—what industry upgrade signals are reflected?

Nanfang Finance reporter Weng Rongtao, Guangzhou report

In the past March, every five days on average, the head of a Guangdong company traveled to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to ring the bell for an IPO, and this is only a snapshot of this round of expansion in Guangdong’s capital markets.

According to publicly available data, in the first quarter of 2026, Guangdong added 13 domestic and overseas listed companies, up 160% year over year. The province accounted for 18.31% of the national total. Combined, IPO proceeds reached RMB 30.79B (converted from Hong Kong dollars using the exchange rate on the first day of listing, the same as below). This was up 10.29 times compared with the same period of 2025, accounting for nearly 25% of the national total IPO proceeds.

This means that in the first quarter, whether measured by the number of listed companies or by total IPO proceeds, Guangdong remained #1 nationwide. In addition, for every 4 yuan of total IPO proceeds in the national capital market, 1 yuan flowed into Guangdong companies.

More notably, Guangdong companies can not only achieve a breakthrough in financing scale through listing, but also are expected to make key leaps in technical R&D, capacity expansion, and brand upgrading. The development characteristics and strategic changes before and after listing reflect the core logic behind Guangdong’s industrial upgrading.

#1 nationwide in both listing numbers and IPO proceeds

From the perspective of the national market landscape, Guangdong’s IPO leading advantage in the capital market is further highlighted. In the first quarter of 2026, the domestic and overseas IPO market in China combined to raise RMB 137.04B. Among them, Guangdong topped all provinces with total proceeds of RMB 30.79B and nearly 25% of the national share of proceeds—far exceeding the sum of the second-place Jiangsu (RMB 10.1381 billion) and third-place Zhejiang (RMB 2.79B).

In terms of the number of listed companies, the gap among the top three is not large: Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu had 13, 12, and 10 companies respectively, with Guangdong still holding the top spot.

Breaking down by listing segments, the Hong Kong market became the absolute main force behind Guangdong companies’ IPOs in the first quarter, and also the core support for the leapfrog growth in financing scale.

Data show that in the first quarter, the national Hong Kong equity market added 40 newly listed companies, with total proceeds of RMB 98.1261 billion. Among them, Guangdong had 11 companies, accounting for 27.5% of the number of newly added Hong Kong listings nationwide, and combined proceeds of RMB 28.2311 billion, accounting for 31.38% of the total Hong Kong IPO proceeds.

In sharp contrast, in the first quarter of 2025, the number of Guangdong companies listing on the Hong Kong market was zero—there were only five companies that listed on the A-share market. Total proceeds were just RMB 2.794 billion.

Compared with the strong performance in the Hong Kong market, Guangdong companies’ performance in the A-share market in this first quarter was somewhat weaker. In the first quarter, 31 new companies were listed on the A-share market nationwide, with total proceeds of RMB 27.1161 billion. Guangdong added 2 newly listed A-share companies, and both listed on the STAR Market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, with combined proceeds of RMB 2.56 billion, accounting for 9.4% of the national total A-share IPO proceeds.

It is worth noting that the two Guangdong enterprises that listed on the STAR Market—BeiXin Life (688712.SH) and Hengyun Chang (688785.SH)—are both in the hard-tech track. They focus on semiconductor equipment and high-end medical consumables respectively, continuing the distinctive feature of A-share IPOs tilting toward hard tech.

From the standpoint of industrial structure, hard tech has become the absolute main line for Guangdong companies’ IPOs. At the same time, consumption-leading enterprises have also achieved second listings. Of the 13 newly listed companies in the quarter, 11 are hard-tech companies, accounting for more than 84%. They broadly cover strategic emerging industries such as semiconductors, high-end equipment, biomedicine, industrial robots, and core electronic components—highly aligned with Guangdong’s industrial direction of developing new quality productive forces and promoting the high-end upgrading of manufacturing.

In the new consumption sector, Dongpeng Drink (09980.HK) listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and raised nearly RMB 10 billion, becoming one of the IPO projects with the largest funding scale for new consumption tracks on Hong Kong in the first quarter—breaking market expectations that new consumption companies’ Hong Kong financing might cool down previously.

Regionally, Shenzhen continues to play the “leading role” in Guangdong’s capital market. Among the 13 newly added listing companies in the quarter, 11 have their registered domicile in Shenzhen, covering multiple tracks such as semiconductors, healthcare, and electronic equipment. Regardless of listing count or financing scale, it ranks #1 in the province.

Meanwhile, Guangzhou and Foshan also made breakthroughs, adding two listed companies respectively: Guanghe Technology (01989.HK) and Hualian Robotics (01021.HK). Guangdong as a whole has formed a regional capital market development pattern of multiple points advancing.

Behind these impressive results is Guangdong’s continued efforts in building an end-to-end listing cultivation system. Since this year began, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Finance and the Guangdong Securities Regulatory Bureau have continued to strengthen province-city coordination. They have established a working mechanism featuring top-down collaboration and vertical-and-horizontal linkage.

To respond to the trend of increased warmth in Hong Kong listings, Guangdong has continued to deepen cooperation with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, providing full-chain services such as policy consultation and process guidance to help companies list overseas. At the same time, it has held intensive training on high-quality development of the capital market, covering core steps including listing review, advising and filing, and mergers and restructuring—continuously strengthening the foundation for enterprise listings.

Zhang Yidong, committee member of Haitong International Executive Committee and chief economist, analyzed: “Driven by factors such as policy support in Mainland China and Hong Kong, sustained listing enthusiasm among leading companies in high-quality emerging industries, and the return of international capital, the scale of Hong Kong IPO fundraising in 2026 is expected to exceed HKD 300 billion.”

He believes that, taking Guangdong’s planned IPO companies as an example, the Hong Kong market is continuously introducing high-quality companies with long-term growth potential. The queued and reserved projects are mainly concentrated in growth industries such as technology and healthcare.

As of the end of March 2026, there were 17 domestic listing projects in Guangdong that have passed review, 51 projects under review, 214 companies under tutoring, and 69 companies that have filed for overseas listings. All indicators rank among the top in the country. A solid reserve pipeline also means that Guangdong’s capital market will continue to expand going forward.

Hard-tech and new consumption companies are favored

For Guangdong companies that list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the STAR Market, the listing brought more than just additional cash flow—it also means rebuilding technical R&D, strategic layout, and market competitiveness.

As the company with the largest IPO fundraising scale in Guangdong in the first quarter, Dongpeng Drink’s second listing on Hong Kong not only connects dual domestic and overseas financing platforms, but also opens a new stage in its global expansion.

After listing, Dongpeng Drink has clearly stated that part of the raised funds will be used to expand its overseas market business over the next three to five years. This includes investments in channel development, brand promotion, and product development, exploring potential investment and M&A opportunities.

PCB (printed circuit board) equipment leader DAS International CNC (03200.HK) listed in Hong Kong this time. The proceeds are mainly used to strengthen R&D and operating capabilities, consolidate technological barriers, and enhance the production capacity of PCB-specific equipment, so as to quickly respond to downstream demand for capacity expansion. The company is expected to leverage Hong Kong’s internationalized platform to enhance its brand influence across the global electronics manufacturing industry chain and expand its market share in PCB equipment.

Behind the upsurge of Hong Kong listings, A-share companies each have different strategic demands.

Wang Tingting, professor at the School of Finance, Central University of Finance and Economics, and head of the Securities and Futures Research Institute, analyzed and pointed out that for A-share leading companies, “A+H” is a core arrangement serving their internationalization strategy, optimization of shareholder structure, and risk hedging. First, it opens up international financing channels to support global business expansion. Second, it optimizes the shareholder structure and enhances international brand influence. Third, it helps companies hedge the risks of a single market and forms valuation complementarity with the A-share market.

Jingfeng Medical (02675.HK) is a surgical robot company in the medical device industry. Its listing proceeds are mainly intended for R&D of core products—multiport endoscope surgical robots—as well as commercialization promotion and expanding capacity. The goal is to consolidate its technological advantages in domestically produced surgical robots and accelerate market penetration and global layout.

Hualian Robotics (01021.HK) is a typical case of transformation in the traditional manufacturing industry. From the original traditional mechanical-arm manufacturer, at the time of listing it had already reinvented itself as a “embodied intelligent solutions provider.” It is one of the few collaborative robot companies in China that possesses full-stack in-house R&D capabilities integrating both software and hardware, and that can independently export core motion components. The proceeds are mainly used to enhance R&D capability, expand global business, and upgrade and expand capacity.

The explosive growth of the Guangdong IPO market in the first quarter of 2026 is an inevitable result of Guangdong’s long-term commitment to developing manufacturing province-wide and continuously cultivating technology innovation enterprises. As Guangdong’s listing cultivation system keeps improving and more reserve-pipeline companies gradually make their market debuts, the “Guangdong sector’s” tech quality in the capital market will continue to improve. It will also inject sustained capital momentum into high-quality development of Guangdong’s real economy.