HONG KONG, July 30, 2026 — CIC extends our warmest congratulations to Zhongji InnoLight Co., Ltd. (03308. HK; 300308. SZ) on its successful listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) today, completing its A+H dual-listing structure.
Offering Highlights & Cornerstone Investor Lineup
The final offer price for the H-share offering is set at HK$980 per share, with a base offering of 54.5 million H shares. Total gross proceeds from the base offering reach approximately HK$53.4 billion (prior to the exercise of the over-allotment option), marking the largest Hong Kong IPO of 2026 year-to-date by base offering size.
The transaction has attracted broad support from global long-term institutional investors and strategic industrial players. As disclosed in the prospectus, the total cornerstone placement amounts to approximately US$3.45 billion, with a premier investor lineup including Temasek, HHLR Advisors under Hillhouse, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, BlackRock, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Wellington Management, Alibaba Group, and Tencent.
Zhongji InnoLight – A Global Leader in Optical Interconnect
As a leading player in the global optical interconnect industry, Zhongji InnoLight posted revenue of RMB38.24 billion and net profit of RMB11.58 billion in 2025. In the first quarter of 2026, its revenue and net profit reached RMB19.50 billion and RMB6.32 billion respectively.
High-speed optical transceivers accounted for 94.6% of the company's total revenue in Q1 2026, as the firm continues to capture robust tailwinds from global AI infrastructure construction and high-speed optical interconnect upgrades.
CIC's Collaborative Journey to the Listing
Throughout the listing process, CIC provided end-to-end support to the company and its sponsors:
Systematically outlining the industry development background, end-use scenarios and core growth drivers of optical interconnects across AI data centers, data communications and telecommunications segments;
Calculating historical and forecast data for the global optical interconnect market size, product speed iteration, application scenarios, and technology pathways such as silicon photonics;
Analyzing the global competitive landscape and independently verifying the company's market position across dimensions including revenue scale and market share in the high-speed data center optical interconnect market;
Providing third-party research, data support and professional advice for the industry overview chapter and relevant industry disclosures in the prospectus.
Global Optical Interconnect Market Overview
The global optical interconnect market reached US$24.8 billion in 2025, and is projected to grow to US$111.0 billion by 2030, representing a CAGR of 31.6% from 2026 to 2030. Data communications remains the primary driver of market expansion, with its market size expected to climb from US$19.4 billion in 2025 to US$98.6 billion in 2030, delivering a CAGR of 33.8% over the 2026–2030 period.
Surging demand for AI data center buildout is accelerating the technological upgrade of optical interconnects. As of 2025, 800G optical transceivers have entered full large-scale deployment, 1.6T products have transitioned into volume production, and development of 3.2T products is progressing at an accelerated pace. Over the next five years, 1.6T products are expected to become the mainstream solution for optical interconnect deployment, while 3.2T products will gradually enter the commercial validation phase, ushering in a new round of higher-speed upgrade cycles.
The rapid proliferation of AI workloads is fundamentally reshaping data center architectures, driving substantial growth in demand for optical interconnects across all network layers. In modern data centers, optical interconnects are critical not only for front-end networks that handle data transmission between end-users and data centers, but also for back-end infrastructures that support high-performance computing workloads via scale-out (interconnection between compute nodes) and scale-up (short-range, high-density interconnection between servers within a single compute node) architectures. In addition, as AI workloads expand, demand for scale-across solutions that enable high-bandwidth, long-distance interconnection across multiple data centers continues to rise.
Silicon photonic transceivers leverage CMOS-compatible processes to integrate a wide array of photonic functions—including waveguides, modulators, monitoring photodiodes and photodetectors—onto photonic integrated circuits (PICs). After two decades of industry development and continuous investment, silicon photonics has established itself as a mainstream technology, delivering superior performance, lower cost, higher yield, robust reliability and scalable manufacturing capacity. The penetration rate of silicon photonics in the global data communications optical interconnect market is expected to rise from approximately 38% in 2025 to around 73% in 2030.
As a seasoned Industry Consultant, CIC offers services such as market sizing, competitive analysis, and enterprise value verification, etc., with global experience in advising "first-in-sector" IPOs in AI infrastructure, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing sectors.
From IPO preparation to listing hearings, CIC unearths the true intrinsic value of enterprises and translates it into actionable insights for successful capital market landing. Prior to Zhongji InnoLight, CIC has supported leading enterprises in successful listings both domestically and overseas, including Biren Technology (06082. HK), Axera (00600. HK), Han's CNC (03200. HK), Epiworld (02726. HK), and Circuit Fabology (09630. HK), etc.
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About CIC
CIC is a professional consulting firm offering tailored end-to-end support across the full investment and financing lifecycle. The firm boasts a world-leading track record in guiding landmark first-in-sector IPOs across global markets, alongside unrivaled reach and in-depth coverage capabilities across specialized niche market segments.
CIC helps enterprises refine scalable business models and craft compelling capital narratives to enable seamless access to global capital markets, while serving as a trusted due diligence partner to investment institutions. It delivers granular industry insights and direct access to subject matter experts, empowering clients to identify high-value opportunities and mitigate critical risks effectively.
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