Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) officially set the stage for a landmark restructuring of its artificial intelligence empire, announcing a proposed spin-off and separate listing of its chip-design unit, Kunlunxin (Beijing) Technology, on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The Beijing-based internet giant confirmed on New Year’s Day 2026 that it has submitted a confidential listing application for Kunlunxin’s H shares.
The move follows a year of surging demand for domestic silicon as Chinese tech firms race to replace high-end U.S. accelerators amidst ongoing trade restrictions.
By carving out the unit, Baidu aims to independently showcase Kunlunxin’s valuation—which analysts at Jefferies recently pegged between $16 billion and $23 billion—while attracting specialized investors to the capital-intensive semiconductor sector.
Kunlunxin, which originated as Baidu’s internal chip division before being spun off into a subsidiary in 2021, has quickly emerged as a "national champion" candidate.
Its third-generation P800 chips are already powering massive clusters for large language model (LLM) training, and the company recently unveiled a five-year roadmap including the M100 and M300 models slated for 2026 and 2027.