Amid fast-paced changes that fill the business community with excitement, angst and trepidation, EqualOcean will publish a series of roundup articles to document the major events related to Chinese companies going global every week.
Weekly Overview（06/09-12/09）
1.Excelland Robotics lists in Hong Kong, opening 142% above its offer price on its first trading day
2.Geely Holding plans to acquire a 34% stake in Ford Spain, according to a SAMR disclosure
3.First vehicles roll off the line at ROX Motor’s（极石汽车）Abu Dhabi plant, with initial annual capacity of 20,000 units planned for 2027
4.Shanghai Electric（上海电气）secures Malaysian 500 MW combined-cycle project, marking the first overseas application of its independently manufactured heavy-duty gas turbine
5.Volvo Cars（沃尔沃汽车）to become Lynk & Co’s（领克）exclusive distributor in Europe, taking over commercial operations in January 2027
6.Pony.ai（小马智行）launches Europe’s first fully driverless Robotaxi passenger tests in Zagreb
7.DeepSeek（深度求索）engages CITIC Securities（中信证券）to prepare for a STAR Market IPO, with due diligence underway
8.Longsys（江波龙）lists in Hong Kong, becoming the first independent memory company with both A-share and H-share listings
9.Beijing Creative Distribution Automation（北京科锐）subsidiary wins a Thai data center project with a provisional value of RMB 285 million
10.Anjoy Foods（安井食品）plans a manufacturing joint venture in Indonesia, with the partners committing at least USD 74.25 million
11.China’s Ministry of Commerce urges France to stop using its “anti-ultra-fast-fashion” legislation to restrict Chinese cross-border e-commerce companies
12.XPeng（小鹏汽车）launches the world’s first automated production line for advanced humanoid robots, with IRON walking off the line autonomously
13.Changsha Changtai’s（长沙长泰）embodied-intelligence winding robot becomes the first of its kind in China to obtain EU CE certification
14.LG Electronics（LG电子）subsidiary Bear Robotics plans a Nasdaq listing and is in talks for pre-IPO financing
15.AI short-drama production prices plunge from RMB 5,000 per minute to a few hundred yuan
16.Chinese film A Letter to Grandma opens in more than 160 cinemas across North America
Selected Developments
1. Excelland Robotics Lists in Hong Kong, Opening 142% Above Its Offer Price
【Event】On September 9, commercial service robot company Excelland Robotics (03231.HK) listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange（香港交易所）. Shares opened at HKD 35.00, up 142.21% from the offer price of HKD 14.45. The company offered 45 million H shares globally, raising net proceeds of approximately HKD 576.6 million. Its Hong Kong public offering was subscribed 140.02 times, while the international offering was subscribed just 0.99 times. Cornerstone investors included SenseTime（商汤）subsidiary SensePower and 58.com（58同城）subsidiary CYGG. By 2025 revenue, Excelland was China’s third-largest commercial service robot supplier, with an 8.9% market share. It reported revenue of RMB 317.7 million and a net loss of RMB 110.8 million for the 2025 financial year, with cumulative robot deliveries exceeding 114,600 units.
The offering structure is more revealing than the first-day share price surge. The gap between 140 times subscription for the public offering and 0.99 times for the international tranche suggests that pricing was supported primarily by local capital, with limited participation from international institutions. The two cornerstone investors are affiliated with a perception AI supplier and a local services platform, respectively, providing industry backing rather than purely financial investment. For service robot companies expanding overseas, the constraint lies less in production capacity than in maintenance and support: spare-parts and local after-sales costs rise as the installed base grows. The company has yet to disclose overseas revenue by region, leaving its unit economics to be assessed through subsequent periodic reports.
Capital-market activity in the sector moved in two directions this week. Bear Robotics, the US robotics company controlled by LG Electronics, is preparing for a Nasdaq listing and discussing pre-IPO financing. According to The Korea Economic Daily, citing investment banking sources, it is targeting a valuation of approximately KRW 2 trillion and seeking to raise KRW 300 billion to KRW 400 billion. Chinese peers, meanwhile, are converging on Hong Kong: Kinwong Electronic（景旺电子）passed its listing hearing on September 7, and Longsys listed on September 8. Valuation differences for the same category of companies across the two markets will ultimately feed through to capacity expansion and competition for orders.
2. Geely Holding Plans to Acquire a 34% Stake in Ford Spain, According to a SAMR Disclosure
【Event】On September 7, the State Administration for Market Regulation’s Second Anti-Monopoly Enforcement Department published a notice concerning Zhejiang Geely Holding Group’s proposed acquisition of an equity stake in Ford España, S.L.（福特西班牙公司）. Geely Holding and Ford Motor Company have signed a transaction agreement under which Geely would acquire 34% of the target company. The target operates a passenger vehicle business in Spain and is currently wholly owned and solely controlled by Ford. Following the transaction, Ford and Geely would hold 66% and 34%, respectively, and exercise joint control. The public comment period runs from September 7 to September 16, 2026.
Geely has chosen to enter an operating European vehicle manufacturing base through an equity investment, sharing control with the existing owner rather than building a new plant. The significance of this move lies in working around the tariffs and rules of origin that constrain vehicle exports, at the cost of foregoing sole authority over production capacity and product planning.
The parties have signed the transaction agreement, and the merger filing has been made public, but the deal has not closed. The notice falls under the simplified merger review procedure, with public comments accepted until September 16. The transaction must also undergo review procedures in other relevant jurisdictions before completion.
In a complementary move, Geely Auto Group（吉利汽车集团）reached a definitive agreement with Volvo Cars on September 10. From January 2027, Volvo will become Lynk & Co’s exclusive distributor in Europe, assuming full responsibility for local commercial and brand operations. The arrangement involves no change in equity ownership. Lynk & Co’s overseas sales exceeded 30,000 vehicles in 2025, and by July 2026 its overseas business covered 55 countries and regions, with 249 retail outlets. Taken together, the two arrangements indicate a European strategy built around existing manufacturing capacity and sales networks rather than establishing its own from scratch.
3. First Vehicles Roll Off the Line at ROX Motor’s Abu Dhabi Plant, with Initial Annual Capacity of 20,000 Units Planned for 2027
【Event】Chinese smart new energy vehicle brand ROX Motor has begun electric vehicle production in Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi, or KEZAD. The first three ROX Adamas vehicles bearing “Made in the UAE” labels have rolled off the line. Developed jointly by ROX Motor, the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) and KEZAD Group（哈利法经济区集团）, the plant covers approximately 10,000 square meters. It can locally assemble more than 80 types of components and carry out vehicle assembly, calibration, water-leak testing, road testing and final inspection. Initial annual capacity is planned at 20,000 vehicles in 2027, rising to a planned 300,000 by 2030.
The completion of three vehicles marks a validation milestone after the production line became operational; it does not establish that large-scale production is underway. Both the 20,000-unit and 300,000-unit figures are planned capacity, with the actual ramp-up dependent on local supply chains and orders. Alongside serving the UAE, the plant is intended to export to regional and international markets. The company also plans to unveil its first vehicle designed locally in the UAE in March 2027.
ROX has established its global headquarters in Abu Dhabi and signed an agreement with Egypt’s ESI Group（ESI集团）to form a joint venture. Local production in Egypt is planned to begin in 2027, with an initial annual capacity of 5,000 vehicles. The manufacturing locations in the Gulf and North Africa point to a strategy of using local production to enter two separate trading regions.
The Middle East’s appeal to Chinese new energy vehicle manufacturers lies in low tariffs, electricity and land costs, as well as local government partners willing to co-invest. Its weakness is a limited automotive component supply base. The plant is explicitly focused on component and vehicle assembly rather than full-process manufacturing, and high-value components still need to be sourced externally. The measure of substantive progress is the local content ratio, rather than planned capacity figures.
4. Shanghai Electric Secures Malaysian 500 MW Combined-Cycle Project, Marking the First Overseas Application of Its Independently Manufactured Heavy-Duty Gas Turbine
【Event】According to a September 8 announcement by Shanghai Electric, the company has won the contract for Unit 3 of the Samalaju combined-cycle gas turbine project in Sarawak, Malaysia. Owned by Sarawak Energy Berhad（砂拉越能源公司）, the project involves a 500 MW-class gas-steam combined-cycle generating unit. Shanghai Electric will supply major equipment, including the gas turbine, steam turbine, generator, heat recovery steam generator and air-cooling system, and undertake engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning. The core gas turbine is independently manufactured by Shanghai Electric, marking the first overseas application of this turbine.
Chinese power equipment companies have previously participated in overseas gas-fired power projects largely as engineering, procurement and construction contractors or suppliers of conventional-island equipment. Winning a project with an independently manufactured heavy-duty gas turbine as a core component places Shanghai Electric at a different point in the value chain. The company says the project provides technical coverage from individual equipment manufacturing through the full lifecycle under a 25-year long-term service agreement, extending the commercial relationship from a one-time delivery to ongoing services.
For a first overseas application, the key value lies in operating data. An owner’s assessment of availability and reliability takes longer than equipment delivery, and the Samalaju unit’s operating record will carry more weight in future bids than the contract award itself. Having a state-owned utility as a reference customer also provides other prospective buyers with a site they can visit and inspect.
Elsewhere in the region, a Chinese company secured an order supporting Southeast Asia’s computing infrastructure during the same week. Shenzhen Cyber Engine Technology（深圳市赛博引擎科技）, a controlled subsidiary of Beijing Creative Distribution Automation, won a framework project for the overall integration of containerized diesel generator modules at a Thai data center. The provisional award value is RMB 285 million, equivalent to approximately 13.25% of the parent company’s audited 2025 revenue. The subsidiary has received the award notice but has yet to sign a formal contract.
5. DeepSeek Engages CITIC Securities to Prepare for a STAR Market IPO, with Due Diligence Underway
【Event】According to a September 9 report by Cailian Press（财联社）, DeepSeek has engaged CITIC Securities to prepare for a listing on the STAR Market. A source familiar with the matter confirmed the report to the 21st Century Business Herald（21世纪经济报道）, saying that CITIC Securities had begun working with the company and entered the due diligence stage. However, the two parties had not yet signed a formal listing advisory agreement. CITIC Securities has built several IPO pipelines in AI and advanced technology, spanning A-share computing chips and robotics, as well as autonomous driving and embodied intelligence listings under Hong Kong’s Chapter 18C regime.
Engaging a securities firm and beginning due diligence are among the earliest steps toward an A-share listing. Advisory registration, application submission and regulatory review have not yet begun. The information comes from media reports and sources familiar with the matter; the company has made no announcement. Whether an offering will ultimately proceed, its size and its timetable all remain uncertain.
Chinese large-model companies have previously relied almost entirely on private-market financing, with valuations established confidentially by a small group of investors. If a leading model company enters the STAR Market, it will, for the first time, be required to publicly disclose its revenue mix, computing expenditure and customer concentration, giving the industry its first public-market valuation benchmark.
Hong Kong also saw a concentration of advanced technology listing activity this week: Excelland Robotics listed on September 9, Longsys on September 8, and Kinwong Electronic passed its listing hearing on September 7. STAR Market admission requirements and review timelines, alongside Hong Kong’s listing window, are becoming factors these companies must weigh. IPO preparations do not mean an application has been submitted; further developments should be assessed against subsequent exchange disclosures and company announcements.
Disclaimer: This article was compiled by EqualOcean from publicly available information and media reports for industry research and informational purposes only. It does not constitute securities investment advice or a basis for any investment decision. Data concerning listed companies should be verified against their official announcements and periodic reports. Statements concerning unlisted companies are attributed to media reports and remain subject to official company disclosures. Investing involves risk, and readers bear responsibility for any investment decisions made on the basis of this article.
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