The trend of Hong Kong-listed companies pursuing secondary listings on mainland China's A-share market is accelerating, with a notable surge in new cases this year.
Yunyinggu Technology Co., Ltd., a Hong Kong-listed firm, recently announced it has signed an A-share listing guidance agreement with GF Securities Co., Ltd., officially initiating its return-to-A-share process. Interestingly, the company only debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at the end of May, planning its A-share return just over three months later to establish a dual-listing strategy across both markets. According to data compiled as of September 7th, a total of 15 Hong Kong-listed companies have disclosed progress on their A-share return plans this year.
These companies generally exhibit three prominent traits: high research and development investment, high technological barriers, and high growth expectations. In terms of industry distribution, healthcare and information technology firms dominate this wave of returns, with artificial intelligence-related enterprises emerging as a new growth driver. Experts interviewed suggest this surge in Hong Kong companies returning to A-shares results from a combination of factors: improved system supply, shifts in domestic and international capital market conditions, and the companies' own developmental needs. Looking ahead, the 'H-share first, A-share later' model is expected to see structural expansion with significant divergence across sectors, with AI, high-end equipment, and innovative drug companies likely leading the charge.
This year has witnessed consecutive cases of Hong Kong-listed companies returning to A-shares. Ningbo Lygend Resources & Technology Co., Ltd. received its registration approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission on August 7th, marking the first mainboard project to secure registration under the comprehensive registration system for such returns. Meanwhile, Shenzhen Dobot Corp Ltd has passed its ChiNext IPO review and is now in the registration submission stage, representing the first H-to-A case in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area following the implementation of the Shenzhen comprehensive reform pilot policies. Additionally, Yimiao Vaccine Co., Ltd. is planning to target the Beijing Stock Exchange and is advancing the preliminary process of listing its domestic shares on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations, potentially becoming the first Hong Kong-listed company to return to the BSE.
Further analysis reveals that these returning companies display clear high-R&D, high-barrier, and high-growth characteristics. Wind data shows that among the 15 companies, 11 disclosed their R&D expenditure for the first half of 2026, with combined R&D investment reaching RMB 5.166 billion, averaging RMB 470 million per company. Notably, both Beijing Zhipu Huazhang Technology Co., Ltd. and FanShi Intelligent Technology Group Co., Ltd. saw their first-half R&D spending exceed RMB 1 billion each. On the profitability front, nine companies reported year-on-year net profit growth during the period.
By sector, healthcare (4 companies) and information technology (5 companies) are the primary drivers of this wave, together accounting for nine of the applicants, highlighting their strong technological focus. AI-focused companies are becoming the core growth engine and biggest highlight of the returning group, with players in large model development, AI industry applications, intelligent robotics, and computing power services all entering the fray. For example, on May 29th, the CSRC's filing system disclosed that MiniMax Group Inc., a mainboard-listed company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, had signed a guidance agreement with CITIC Securities Co., Ltd., officially commencing its A-share IPO preparation work. If successful, it would become another domestic large-model enterprise to list on the STAR Market.
Guo Tao, deputy director of the China E-Commerce Expert Service Center, noted that Hong Kong-listed large-model companies are accelerating their A-share returns for several reasons: on one hand, the domestic capital market's institutional tolerance for unprofitable hard-tech companies, with multiple STAR Market listing standards providing channels for AI firms still in heavy R&D phases without profitability; on the other, returning to A-shares allows easier access to domestic computing resources and industry application scenarios, improves talent equity incentive mechanisms, and allows domestic investors to directly benefit from the rapid growth of the AI industry.
The push for Hong Kong companies to return to A-shares stems from both continuous policy optimization and companies' inherent development needs. From a policy perspective, the comprehensive registration system reform has improved multiple differentiated listing standards on the A-share market, removing previous institutional barriers and opening application pathways for Hong Kong-listed companies in AI, innovative drugs, and high-end equipment that may not yet be profitable but possess core technologies. Meanwhile, deepening two-way opening of capital markets has created a favorable policy environment for these returns. For instance, in January, the Ministry of Finance, State Taxation Administration, and CSRC jointly issued a notice extending tax incentives for China Depositary Receipts until the end of 2027, explicitly exempting individual investors from personal income tax and value-added tax on CDR trading gains, further optimizing the CDR market environment.
Wu Zewei, a special researcher at Suzhou Bank, explained that the CDR system offers a differentiated return path for Hong Kong companies operating under VIE structures or incorporated overseas. Through this channel, companies can access the A-share market without adjusting their existing offshore governance frameworks. From the companies' own development perspective, most returning firms have their core operations, customer bases, and supply chain resources rooted in mainland China, making an A-share return more conducive to aligning with domestic industrial policies, computing resources, and downstream application scenarios, thereby accelerating the commercialization of technological achievements.
Compared to the Hong Kong market, the A-share market boasts broader institutional investor coverage, more ample trading liquidity, and higher market awareness of hard-tech sectors, Wu added, which can provide valuations more closely aligned with companies' local industrial value. Additionally, the diversified refinancing tools available on the A-share market can continuously match the substantial R&D funding needs of tech companies, supplying ammunition for technological iterations.
Guo Tao noted that the Hong Kong market serves global capital, helping companies expand overseas businesses and attract international investors, while the A-share market is rooted in the local industrial landscape, facilitating connections with domestic supply chains and access to more appropriate valuations and refinancing support. The two markets form complementary advantages. For the A-share market, the return of quality Hong Kong-listed hard-tech companies will further enrich domestic tech asset supply, support the development of new quality productive forces, and provide domestic investors with more opportunities to share in the growth of the technology innovation sector.