In September 2026, Ligent Technologies (09856.HK) disclosed its offering announcement on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange:
The company plans to globally offer approximately 172 million shares (subject to the exercise of the over-allotment option). Of these, an initial offering of 17.2015 million shares, representing approximately 10.0% of the total, will be made available for the Hong Kong public offering; an initial offering of approximately 155 million shares, representing approximately 90.0%, will be made available for the international offering. The subscription period is from September 14 to September 17, with an offering price of HKD 32.96 per share and a board lot size of 100 shares. Citi and CITIC Securities are the joint sponsors; the H shares are expected to commence trading on the Stock Exchange on September 22.
Reviewing the announcement leads to one conclusion: this is an IPO that rides the wave of AI computing power, backed by a remarkably solid fundamental profile.
| Who Exactly Is This Company?
Ligent Technologies is still a new face in the capital markets, but its roots run deep. It originated from the optical communication business co-founded in 2002 by Hisense Group and the team of returned scientist Huang Weiping. Over more than two decades, it has evolved from optical module packaging to achieving full-process, IDM-level autonomy in optical chips. Ranked by global optical module revenue in 2025, it stands fifth among professional manufacturers (with a 4.0% market share) and third domestically (10.1%), and it is one of the few global enterprises possessing both R&D and mass production capabilities for optical modules and optical chips.
Its "lineage" is even more commendable. Upon listing, it will become the sixth listed company within the Hisense ecosystem, following Hisense Visual Technology, Hisense Home Appliances, Sanden Holdings, Changelight Technology, and Kelin Electric. Hisense Group holds a 48.61% stake through direct and indirect means and will remain the actual controller post-listing. In other words, this is a "flagship" deeply empowered by an industrial group, sailing into the public market with clear strategic coordinates. Compared to a startup starting from scratch, it possesses over two decades of technological accumulation, a globalized manufacturing network, and stable industrial synergy.
Its business comprises three segments: optical modules, optical chips, and optical network terminals, all perfectly aligned with the pulse of the times:
Optical modules are the company's mainstay. On the data communications side, it has launched high-end 800G and 1.6T AI optical modules; on the telecommunications side, it covers FTTx, transmission, and wireless communications. Simultaneously, it has proactively deployed new tracks such as Wi-Fi 7 and automotive optical modules. Relying on a cross-regional R&D network in Qingdao, Wuhan, Silicon Valley, and Singapore, the company holds core capabilities in optical module packaging, including TO-CAN, BOX, COB, and silicon photonics. Optical chips serve as its differentiated barrier. The company has built two mature processing platforms for buried heterojunction and ridge waveguide, and mass-produces 75mW high-power continuous wave (CW-DFB) laser chips to pursue autonomous and controllable supply chains. In terms of business model, the company adopts a differentiated JDM (Joint Design Manufacturing) model, deeply binding with leading downstream customers, transforming "following customers" into "co-defining products with customers".
On the production capacity front, Ligent Technologies has completed its global layout relying on four major bases in Qingdao, Jiangmen, Thailand, and the United States, forming a network architecture of "cross-regional R&D + transnational flexible manufacturing + global localized services"—which is precisely one of the reasons it can continuously secure large orders from top-tier customers.
| The Quality of Growth
Looking at the financial data, revenue surged from CNY 4.239 billion in 2023 and CNY 5.087 billion in 2024 to CNY 8.355 billion in 2025, achieving a three-year CAGR of up to 40.4%. In the first half of 2026, it recorded another CNY 5.393 billion, a year-on-year increase of 27.9%, with the scale already exceeding the full-year figure of 2024.
Net profit attributable to shareholders was CNY 216 million in 2023, and once fell to CNY 89 million in 2024—at that time, data communication optical modules adopted "competitive pricing" to grab market share, telecommunication optical modules faced price declines, and the gross margin of the optical chip business was negative; the superposition of these three factors pushed profits to the bottom. In 2025, the net profit attributable to shareholders rebounded significantly to CNY 876 million, which included a one-time gain of approximately CNY 353 million from the disposal of a joint venture (Qingdao Xinghang). Excluding this item, the net profit attributable to shareholders from core business in 2025 was approximately CNY 523 million. In the first half of 2026, the net profit attributable to shareholders further reached CNY 656 million, exceeding the full-year core business profit level of 2025 after excluding one-time gains, indicating that the profitability of the core business is indeed steadily improving.
The key to the turnaround lies in the gross margin: the gross margin in the first half of 2026 was approximately 24.2%, while the full year 2025 was 20.0% and 2024 was only 17.4%, showing a clear step-by-step increase. Structural changes are the main reason—in 2025, the proportion of revenue from data communication optical modules reached 65.5%, and the increased proportion of high-gross-margin products directly drove up the overall gross margin. Looking closer at the two business lines:
Data communication optical modules are the core engine. Revenue surged from CNY 1.056 billion in 2023 to CNY 5.469 billion in 2025, and in the first half of 2026, the proportion reached nearly 70%, firmly riding the main track of AI computing power construction driving the release of demand for high-speed data communication optical modules. The periodic pullback in its gross margin was caused by grabbing market share during the growth stage and the increase in fixed costs during the capacity ramp-up period; with the release of economies of scale, it has shown improvement.
Optical chips are the future "second curve." In the early stage, the gross margin was under pressure due to the small revenue scale and the fact that it was still in the investment period; however, with the commercialization of 75mW CW-DFB laser chips in the second quarter of 2025 and reaching full production in the first quarter of 2026, the business has entered a channel of turning profitable. Moving from losses to profitability shows that this once-questioned business is being implemented step by step.
In short: modules are charging on behalf of the company, while chips are completing the most scarce "vertical integration" puzzle for the company. The narrative of "chip-module integration" is not empty talk; it is being realized bit by bit on the income statement.
| Subscription Enthusiasm
Market signals are hot! During the subscription period, Ligent Technologies obtained HKD 15.545 billion in margin financing lent by brokers. Based on the public fundraising amount of HKD 567 million, it was oversubscribed by approximately 26.42 times; more than 20 cornerstone investors subscribed to a total of approximately USD 340 million (approximately HKD 2.666 billion). Calculated at the offering price, they will subscribe for 80.8767 million offering shares, accounting for nearly half of this issuance.
The cornerstone list is intriguing and distinctly layered: on the industrial capital side, there are semiconductor enterprises such as GigaDevice and Amlogic, as well as large private equity institutions like Primavera Capital and PAG; top public funds include GF Fund and E Fund; foreign institutions include Mirae Asset Securities Hong Kong, Barings, and Turquoise Hime (ORIX); in addition, it includes CSC Financial OTC swaps, First Seafront Asset Management Limited, and Gaoteng Global Asset Management Limited. Such a diversified cornerstone structure not only reflects the recognition of the company's long-term value by the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain but also embodies the judgment of long-term funds on the prosperity of the optical communication track—the centralized subscription by industrial capital and institutional funds "voting with their feet" is itself a dual endorsement of the fundamentals. The oversubscription is lively, and the structure is not weak either; the high prosperity on the subscription side has laid a solid mass foundation for post-listing performance.
| Structural Highlights
"Chip-module integration" is a real differentiation, not just a slogan. The company's label of "possessing both R&D and mass production capabilities for optical modules and optical chips simultaneously" is precisely its core distinction from most assembly-type manufacturers. Admittedly, the proportion of optical chip revenue once dropped from 2.6% in 2023 to 0.3% in 2025 and 1.6% in the first half of 2026, and the business has been in a long-term investment and loss-making period—but with the dual processing platforms mature, DFB chips mass-delivered, and gross margins turning from negative to positive, it means this strategic path is moving from "burning cash" to "generating cash". High-end chips targeting AI computing power demand are still under validation and promotion, and the room for imagination is far from exhausted.
Deep binding with major customers is a barrier, not a risk. The increasing proportion of revenue from the top five customers, placed in the optical module industry that adopts JDM joint R&D and collaboratively defines products with customers, precisely indicates that the company has established highly sticky strategic cooperative relationships with leading cloud service providers—the more concentrated the customers, the stronger the order visibility and the voice in collaborative R&D.
Raising funds to expand production capacity is a forward-looking strategic positioning rather than blind expansion. Calculated at HKD 32.96 per share with the over-allotment option not exercised, the net fundraising amount is approximately HKD 5.445 billion (if fully exercised, it would be approximately HKD 6.296 billion). The allocation of use is clear: approximately 52.9% for new product and technology R&D, approximately 25.1% to expand the production capacity of optical modules and optical chips and improve automation, approximately 8.0% for domestic and overseas strategic investment and acquisitions, approximately 4.0% to strengthen business promotion and overseas expansion, and approximately 10.0% as working capital. Over 50% of the funds are poured into R&D, with the target directly pointing to the commercialization of NPO/CPO and high-end optical chips, demonstrating the rare determination of a technology-based company. Currently, the four major bases are in the capacity ramp-up and network construction phase for global flexible delivery, with periodic utilization rates not yet full, which is exactly the elasticity reserved for the next round of demand expansion.
| Warm Winds Rising for the Optical Module Sector
Ligent Technologies chose a very good timing. Just before its subscription, Innolight's H-share listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on July 30 saw its stock price briefly break the offering price on the first day, reflecting the market's brief hesitation towards the optical module sector; however, with the establishment of policy orientation, the catalysis of industry summits, and overseas investment banks significantly raising demand expectations for high-speed optical modules and CPO, the sector quickly turned around and strengthened. Ligent Technologies hit an issuance window of recovering sentiment and upwardly revised demand expectations.
For a company with high revenue growth, solid cornerstones, and riding the main track of AI computing power, such a window means: short-term support from sector sentiment, and medium-to-long-term support from real performance. The prosperity of the optical module industry is standing at the starting point of a new upward cycle.
| Within the Light, There Are Opportunities
From the optical communication business segment of Hisense Group to ranking fifth globally in optical modules, Ligent Technologies has completed the leap from internal incubation to independent listing in over two decades. Annual revenue of CNY 8.355 billion, net profit attributable to shareholders of CNY 656 million in the first half of 2026 (which has already exceeded the core business profit of 2025 after excluding one-time gains), a luxurious cornerstone lineup spanning industrial capital and top public funds, and the firm posture of investing over 50% of the raised funds into R&D have formed its industrial background for landing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Ligent Technologies is standing in the light...
Officially listed on September 22, the capital story of this sixth listed company in the "Hisense family" is about to turn a new page; and "chip-module integration" transforming from a slogan into an increasingly thick line on the income statement is the most anticipated second growth curve in the next two to three years.
Data sources: Ligent Technologies prospectus, Hong Kong Stock Exchange disclosure documents, and public reports from Xinhuanet, Qingdao News Network, Sina Finance, Securities Star, etc., as of September 2026. This article is only a third-party observation and review based on public offering information and does not constitute any investment advice. The market has risks; investors need to make their own judgments when subscribing to new shares.