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Shein enters a public-markets boom shaped by appetite for advanced technology. The sharper question is whether demand for AI-linked stocks can support durable revenue, margins and valuations after opening-day trading fades.
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Shein is heading toward a roughly $27 billion Hong Kong valuation and a $1.7 billion IPO as China’s Shanghai and Hong Kong markets reach $54 billion in 2026 issuance, surpassing all of 2025. AI- and robotics-led listings are attracting domestic retail momentum, but sharp reversals complicate the boom: CXMT gained 466% on debut, while Unitree later traded more than 40% below its peak.
CXMT raised more than $8.6 billion on Shanghai’s STAR Market; revenue surged over 700% year over year to about $7.5 billion.
Unitree shares jumped 460% on debut, then fell more than 40% from their peak, showing opening gains may not support valuations.
Mainland foreign-purchase limits and U.S.-China scrutiny are steering strategically important technology companies toward Hong Kong and Shanghai listings.
Shein is due to debut in Hong Kong in an IPO expected to raise $1.7 billion, joining a market where Hong Kong and Shanghai IPOs and secondary listings have already raised more than $54 billion this year. That total exceeds the more than $46 billion raised across the two exchanges in all of 2025, according to LSEG.
Investor appetite for AI, robotics and other advanced technologies is powering China’s current IPO boom, according to Ruiying Zhao, a senior research analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence. Shanghai trading is heavily driven by retail investors, which can help produce rapid moves when shares first trade.
ChangXin Memory Technologies, or CXMT, raised more than $8.6 billion in a July Shanghai IPO, the second-largest offering on the Nasdaq-style STAR Market. Its shares rose 466% on the first trading day. CXMT’s revenue increased more than 700% year over year to about $7.5 billion in the first three months of 2026, amid demand for AI-related computer chips.
Humanoid-robot maker Unitree debuted in Shanghai in August, and its shares rose 460% on the first day. As of Friday, however, the stock had fallen more than 40% from its peak on debut day. The reversal makes clear that a spectacular opening does not itself settle a company’s valuation.
China limits foreign purchases on mainland exchanges, so Chinese companies often pair a domestic listing with one in Hong Kong to reach international capital. Recent U.S. and Chinese scrutiny of major Chinese companies pursuing U.S. listings has also encouraged some strategically important technology firms to list closer to home. Freshfields partner Howie Farn said overseas listings generally take longer than IPOs in China.
Shein’s IPO is expected to value the company at around $27 billion. Jacob Cooke, chief executive of WPIC Marketing + Technologies, said the AI investment cycle is drawing risk appetite that might otherwise have gone to companies such as Shein. AGIBOT and Deep Robotics are also considering IPOs in Hong Kong or Shanghai.
Zhao’s benchmark for a durable market cycle is more demanding than debut-day momentum: sustainable revenue, visible profit margins and realistic valuations. Whether those measures follow the rush into AI-linked shares remains the central unresolved question.
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