An overview of the Baidu logo seen at the Shanghai New Expo Center during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2025 held in Shanghai, China on July 28, 2025.
Ying Tan | Null Photo | Getty Images
Chinese technology giant Baidu The company announced plans to spin off its artificial intelligence chip subsidiary Kunlunxin and list it in Hong Kong as more domestic chip makers seek funding amid China’s push for semiconductor self-sufficiency.
The company said in a statement on Friday that it has confidentially submitted an application to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, although details of the listing application, including size and structure, have not yet been determined.
The move still requires approval from regulators, including China’s securities regulator. Baidu emphasized that there is no guarantee that the spinoff will proceed. The company reportedly owns about 59% of Kunlun Shin’s shares.
Baidu, a major player in China’s growing AI field, is both a purchaser of specialized AI chips for data centers and cloud computing, and a designer of them through Kunlunxin.
The company said the spin-off would highlight Kunlunxin’s standalone potential and be in line with its strategy to attract sector-specific investors and expand its financing options. Kunlun Shin will remain a subsidiary of Baidu, it added.
The move comes against the backdrop of escalating tensions between the US and China in the high-tech sector. Both the U.S. and Chinese governments have imposed various restrictions on Chinese AI companies’ access to cutting-edge AI chips based in California. Nvidia.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government is increasingly encouraging domestic chip purchases and mobilizing billions of dollars of public funds for development.
In recent months, several Chinese chipmakers have announced plans to go public, including Moore Thread and Viren Technology.
Growing business focus
Founded in 2012, Kunlunxin is at the heart of Baidu’s ambition to become a “full stack” AI company, spanning not only AI models and applications, but also hardware, servers, and data centers.
Baidu has traditionally relied heavily on Nvidia chips to provide most of its AI computing, but it is increasingly deploying a combination of homegrown chips in its data centers to run Ernie AI models.
Kunlunxin is also transitioning to operate as a separate entity and expanding sales to third-party customers outside of Baidu.
Reuters previously reported that Kunlun New’s revenue last year exceeded 3.5 billion yuan ($500 million) and is expected to reach breakeven. The report added that external sales are expected to account for more than half of revenue in 2025.
In a sign of further strength last year, Kunlunxin won more than 1 billion yuan worth of orders from suppliers. china mobileOne of the largest mobile phone companies in Japan.
China Mobile also participated in the company’s latest funding, raising more than 2 billion yuan, valuing the unit at about 21 billion yuan, according to Reuters.
Baidu said in a statement that the plan to spin off Kunlun Xin and list it will allow it to better align management incentives with performance and increase the division’s market presence.
Late last year, JPMorgan analysts predicted that Kunlunxin’s semiconductor sales would increase sixfold to 8 billion Chinese yuan in 2026.
