Published Sun, Oct 4, 2026 · 11:05 AM

BANKERS in Hong Kong skipped the summer break as an artificial intelligence-fuelled rush for capital sent share sales to a record, defying a bruising sell-off in the city’s stocks.

Initial public offerings, placements and block trades raised US$47.5 billion in July-September, the biggest haul ever for the period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

That pushed fundraising this year above US$92 billion and within reach of the US$112.5 billion record set in 2021, though the recent surge in bond yields and poor deal performance are making investors and issuers more cautious.

AI has been at the heart of Hong Kong’s deal revival, but this summer brought a new level of intensity. Chinese companies raised ever-larger sums and returned to the market more quickly as they sought to fund expansion in the fast-growing industry.

Alibaba Group Holding’s US$10.2 billion follow-on offering was the biggest transaction during the period, while Zhongji Innolight raised almost US$8 billion in Hong Kong’s largest listing in nearly seven years. Others tapped investors repeatedly: AI model maker Z.AI has raised US$9.6 billion in 2026 through its IPO, placements and convertible bonds.

“People raise capital right out of lockup and tend to do so more frequently,” said James Wang, head of Asia ex-Japan equity capital markets at Goldman Sachs Group.

“Before, they did it once and it would be quiet for one to two years. Now they do it and three months later they come back. This will continue for a couple of years because of AI. I don’t see that pace slowing down.”

Aside from Z.AI, rival model maker MiniMax Group, as well as chipmakers Shanghai Iluvatar CoreX Semiconductor and Shanghai B...