On January 1, 2026, Baidu Group Inc. (a limited liability company incorporated in the Cayman Islands with differential voting rights control, stock tickers: 9888 (HK dollar trading board) and 89888 (RMB trading board)) officially released an announcement stating that Kunlunxin, its core AI computing power enterprise, has submitted a listing application form (Form A1) to The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (hereinafter referred to as "HKEX") confidentially via its joint sponsors, intending to conduct an independent listing on the Main Board of HKEX. As a leading player in the AI chip sector with over a decade of deep cultivation, Kunlunxin has not only completed financing with a valuation approaching US$3 billion, but is also expected to achieve breakeven in 2025. This spin-off listing is expected to make it the "first AI chip stock listed on the Hong Kong stock market", filling the valuation gap in the relevant sector of the Hong Kong stock market. According to the announcement from Baidu, Kunlunxin has submitted the spin-off listing plan in accordance with HKEX Listing Rule PN15, and HKEX has confirmed that Baidu may proceed with this spin-off plan. This listing application was submitted confidentially, and the subsequent listing will be realized through a global offering, which specifically includes two parts: first, a public offering in Hong Kong for subscription by Hong Kong members of the public; second, the placement of Kunlunxin shares to institutional and professional investors. It is worth noting that as of the date of this announcement, Kunlunxin is a non-wholly owned subsidiary of Baidu Group, and is expected to remain a subsidiary of Baidu after the completion of the spin-off. This arrangement means that Baidu will continue to control its core AI computing power assets, ensuring that the group's strategic layout in the entire AI industry chain is not affected; at the same time, Kunlunxin can obtain more flexible financing channels through independent listing, further accelerating the pace of technological research and development and market expansion. Earlier Reuters reports showed that Kunlunxin has successfully completed a new round of financing recently, with a valuation approaching US$3 billion, and the active participation of numerous institutions has laid a solid financial foundation for its listing journey. Kunlunxin's technological accumulation dates back to 2011. Its predecessor was Baidu's Intelligent Chip and Architecture Department, which initially started with the research and development of FPGA AI accelerators and gradually deepened its focus on the AI chip sector. In 2018, Baidu officially launched the "Baidu Kunlun" cloud AI chip, marking its full entry into the AI chip track; in 2021, Kunlunxin completed independent financing, with an initial valuation of approximately RMB 13 billion, and Ouyang Jian, Baidu's chief chip architect, served as CEO, opening a new chapter in independent operation and development. After more than a decade of technological iteration and innovation, Kunlunxin has built a complete full-stack AI computing power product system: - Core architecture: Independently developed Kunlunxin XPU architecture, specially designed for general-purpose AI computing, which can flexibly adapt to complex cutting-edge artificial intelligence scenarios; - Chip products: Successively launched the first and second generations of Kunlunxin general-purpose AI computing processors, fully covering cloud computing power demands; - Accelerated hardware: Developed K100, K200, R100, R200 series acceleration cards, as well as diversified products such as RG800 and AI accelerator group R480-X8; - Future plans: Launch the M100 chip for large-scale inference scenarios in early 2026, and plan to launch the M300 chip adapted for ultra-large-scale multimodal model training and inference in early 2027, continuing to focus on independently controllable AI computing power supply and further strengthening technical barriers. In recent years, Kunlunxin's business has shown a high-speed growth trend, and has achieved large-scale deployment and landing of three generations of products. As the key computing power foundation of Baidu AI, its products are widely used in core businesses such as Baidu Smart Cloud and large model research and development, strongly supporting Baidu Smart Cloud to rank first in China's AI cloud service market share for six consecutive years. While consolidating the internal market, Kunlunxin is actively expanding the external market. Currently, the proportion of external customers has reached approximately 40%, with customer groups covering internet giants, mobile phone manufacturers, operators, central enterprises and state-owned enterprises, etc., and its business scope covers multiple fields such as internet, operators, intelligent computing, finance, energy and power, and automobiles. Up to now, Kunlunxin has completed the deployment of tens of thousands of cards, benefiting hundreds of millions of end users. Robin Li, founder of Baidu Group, once emphasized that the speed of technological iteration is the only moat in the AI field, and Kunlunxin's product layout and market expansion are the core support for Baidu's continuous investment in cutting-edge technologies and continuously raising the intelligent ceiling. This spin-off listing gives Kunlunxin a clear profit expectation — it is expected to achieve breakeven in 2025, which marks that its business model has matured and is about to enter the profit stage. Against the background of the outbreak of AI large models, AI chips, as the core of computing power, have continued to surge in market demand, and the industry has broad development prospects. Kunlunxin, with its more than a decade of technological accumulation, strong support from the Baidu ecosystem and a wide customer base, is expected to obtain high valuation recognition on the HKEX. If the listing is successful, it will become a scarce AI chip target in the Hong Kong stock market, filling the valuation gap in this sector. From the strategic level of Baidu Group, the spin-off of Kunlunxin for independent listing can not only fully release the value of core assets, but also use the power of the capital market to accelerate Kunlunxin's layout in the AI chip track, further strengthening Baidu's core competitiveness in the entire AI industry chain. In the future, with the successive launch of new generation products such as M100 and M300, Kunlunxin is expected to further consolidate its industry position and become a core force in the autonomy of domestic AI computing power. The listing journey of Baidu's AI chip Kunlunxin has officially started. Will Kunlunxin achieve value appreciation in the Hong Kong stock market with its solid technical barriers and significant market advantages? Please stay tuned for its subsequent prospectus disclosure and listing process! © 2021 Meishun (Hong Kong) Management Consulting Co., Ltd. and Meishun (Hangzhou) Management Consulting Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Meishun Meiyin (Hangzhou) Consulting Management Co., Ltd. is the domestic subsidiary of Hong Kong Meishun Management Consulting Company under the same actual controller. Both companies share the same controlling interest and comply with the laws of Hong Kong and mainland China.