DTECH and ZJ INNOLIGHT have both been major winners in this market cycle, with the latter once reaching a market capitalization of 1.3 trillion yuan and a share price above 1,300. In July of this year, DTECH and ZJ INNOLIGHT issued H-shares in Hong Kong, right at the peak of the AI hardware rally. Based on Friday's prices, DTECH has fallen 63.5% below its issue price, while ZJ INNOLIGHT has dropped 41.8% below its issue price.

The cornerstone investors in ZJ INNOLIGHT and DTECH will see their lock-up periods expire in January next year. Across the two H-share offerings, a total of 52 institutions invested HK$28.694 billion. Based on the closing prices on November 6, they have lost HK$12.451 billion on paper. DTECH's average loss is 63.55%, while ZJ INNOLIGHT's average loss stands at 41.89%, with lock-up periods of only 61 days and 82 days remaining respectively.

Clearly, the reason nobody wanted the earlier H-share offering from Dongshan Precision is now obvious. Cornerstone investors are supposed to provide stability and carry a halo effect, but amid Hong Kong's historic IPO wave and the tech bubble, nobody could make a difference. ZJ INNOLIGHT, DTECH, and Victory Giant Technology are practically shouting to the world through a megaphone: "If you want to lose big money, come buy AI hardware stocks!"

If you are a cornerstone investor in tech hardware, when the lock-up expires and the stock is still below the issue price, do you sell or hold? Victory Giant Technology's moves are baffling — since its H-share listing in April, its stock has fallen 48% below the issue price, and on Friday it was hammered to a new low of HK$108. Victory Giant Technology then went and subscribed to DTECH's IPO as a cornerstone investor, and that investment has already lost another HK$150 million on paper.

ZJ INNOLIGHT, Victory Giant Technology, and DTECH all suffer steep price declines

These three companies share something in common: all are A+H dual-listed AI hardware leaders, all completed H-share offerings in 2026, all brought in the most respectable long-term funds as cornerstone investors, and all have fallen below their issue prices.

One easily overlooked pricing fact: ZJ INNOLIGHT's H-shares closed at HK$569.50 on November 6; on the same day, its A-shares (300308) closed at 448.00 yuan, down 9.19% for the day, representing a 68.4% drawdown from its 52-week high of 1,416.88 yuan. In other words, the H-shares are actually 15.7% more expensive than the A-shares. What cornerstone investors bought at HK$980 was the most expensive slice of ZJ INNOLIGHT equity priced anywhere in the world at the time.

The same inversion did not appear in the other two: DTECH's H-shares trade at a 34.1% discount to its A-shares, while Victory Giant Technology's H-shares trade at a 20.6% discount. ZJ INNOLIGHT is the only one of the three whose H-shares were issued at a premium — its problem is not that Hong Kong pricing was too low, but that it was priced too high to begin with.

DTECH: from 380 to 138.5, 17 cornerstone investors lose 1.265 billion yuan on paper

DTECH's offering comprised 12.632 million shares, raising HK$4.8 billion, with 17 cornerstone investors subscribing to 5.2365 million shares, locking up 41.45% of the global offering — nearly half of the new shares were directly locked in by cornerstone investors. Three names tied for first place, each subscribing to 618,600 shares: Victory Giant Technology Group (Hong Kong), Hillhouse's HHLR Advisors, and ASPEX Master Fund.

618,600 shares may not look like much, but multiplied by the HK$241.5 per-share price gap, that equals HK$149 million. Victory Giant Technology is both a customer of DTECH and its cornerstone investor — a PCB maker buying shares in a drill bit manufacturer represents deep vertical integration along the supply chain. This 618,600-share position cost HK$235 million at the issue price, and was worth only HK$86 million at the November 6 close.

At the same time, Victory Giant Technology's own H-share price was hitting new listing lows, and its cornerstone investors whose lock-up expired on October 21 are also deeply underwater. Its own stock is falling, and the money it invested elsewhere is falling too — a reverse hedge played beautifully. (See companion article: "Victory Giant Technology: Its Own Stock Hits New Lows While Its HK$149 Million Investment Also Loses")

ZJ INNOLIGHT: from 980 to 569.5, HK$11.186 billion, expiring in 82 days

ZJ INNOLIGHT's cornerstone lineup was the most star-studded list in Hong Kong this year: 35 institutions (counted by entities listed in the allotment results announcement), subscribing to 27.2494 million shares, representing 50.00% of the global offering, with total investment of HK$26.704 billion. Temasek, Hillhouse, BlackRock, JPMorgan Asset Management, Yunfeng Capital, Canada Pension Plan, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Wellington, Boyu, Bain, Oaktree, IDG, plus Alibaba, Tencent, and Chow Tai Fook Enterprises — this list covers virtually all the major global allocators to Chinese AI hardware.

Now, this entire list is sitting on an average paper loss of 41.89%, totaling HK$11.186 billion. The largest subscriber was Hillhouse's HHLRA with 2.3696 million shares, sitting on a paper loss of HK$973 million; BlackRock with 1.9746 million shares, down HK$811 million; Temasek's Taibai with 1.8957 million shares, down HK$778 million — adding True Light's HK$195 million, Temasek's two entities together lost HK$973 million, tying with Hillhouse for the top spot. Alibaba and Tencent each subscribed to 394,900 shares, each losing HK$162 million.

For these two, HK$162 million is truly nothing — Alibaba's quarterly capital expenditure is dozens of times that figure. But the ones truly hurting on this list are not them: there are 14 institutions whose single positions of HK$774 million suddenly became HK$450 million. ADIA, Wellington, Perseverance, Indus, Mirae, NGS Super, Bain, CPE, Boyu, WT, CloudAlpha, Tairen, Hao, Janchor — each one's loss is precisely HK$324 million.

Data sources and methodology

1. Cornerstone investor list, allotted shares, and lock-up periods: HKEX disclosure records, "Final Offer Price and Allotment Results Announcement" — DTECH 2026-07-08, ZJ INNOLIGHT 2026-07-29; Victory Giant Technology's total cornerstone subscription of 37.2201 million shares with lock-up until 2026-10-20 is taken from its allotment results announcement. 2. Issue price, closing price, intraday low, and trading volume: Wind Financial Terminal, close of 2026-11-06. 3. Paper loss calculation = allotted shares × (issue price − 11/6 closing price). Excludes exchange rate gains/losses, dividends, over-allotment, and subsequent increases or decreases in holdings; this is a static book-value measure. 4. A/H conversion at approximately 1 HKD ≈ 0.91 RMB; ZJ INNOLIGHT A-shares (300308.SZ), DTECH A-shares (301377.SZ), and Victory Giant Technology A-shares (300476.SZ) are all at November 6 closing prices. 5. Philadelphia Semiconductor Index single-day decline on November 5: Wind closing basis −10.54%, multiple media reports over 12%, this article uses "over 10%"; Hang Seng Index, Hang Seng Tech Index, and ChiNext Index levels and changes are all from Wind. 6. This article is based on data calculations and publicly available information and does not constitute investment advice.