Citic Securities is coaching Beijing-based artificial intelligence chipmaker Cambricon for an initial public offering. The Alibaba-backed company is preparing to float shares on Shanghai’s tech-focused Star market, according to information posted on the China Securities Regulatory Commission’s website on Friday.
All directors, high-level executives, and individual shareholders with a stake of 5% or more must receive instruction in areas including listing-related law and regulations, corporate structure, financial management, and information disclosure.
This is a necessary step for a company to go public. It is the first clear signal that the unicorn will be listing shares on the Star bourse in Shanghai after it was valued at USD 2.5 billion in its Series B round in August 2018, when it pulled in a USD 100 million investment.
Previously, Alibaba contributed to the startup’s Series A round. In 2016, Cambricon provided the neural processing unit (NPU) for Huawei’s Kirin 970 smartphone chipset, and later rolled out other AI chips.
This article is part of KrASIA’s “China Brief” section, where KrASIA’s reporters will provide quick daily updates about the tech ecosystem in China.