BEIJING/HONG KONG - Chinese mainland AI chip startup Biren Technology aims to launch a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region initial public offering in the coming weeks, four sources with knowledge of the matter said.

The IPO could raise $300 million, local media reported. One of the sources confirmed the number to Reuters.

The Shanghai-based company, along with other domestic rivals, is banking on rapid growth as the mainland seeks to develop domestic alternatives to US semiconductors amid stringent export restrictions by Washington on advanced chips.

Biren could kick off the offering as early as this month and debut in January, said two of the sources.

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According to a Monday notice from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Biren plans to issue up to 372.5 million shares in Hong Kong and its shareholders will convert 873.3 million onshore shares into Hong Kong-listed stock.

The sources declined to be identified as the information was confidential. Biren did not respond to a Reuters query for comment.

Beijing has prioritized building homegrown champions in graphics processing units (GPUs), which are critical for artificial intelligence development.

The planned IPO would follow successful offerings from industry peers Moore Threads and MetaX that were thousands of times oversubscribed.

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Moore Threads' shares soared over 400 percent in its Dec 5 Shanghai debut.

Founded in 2019, Biren's co-founders include Zhang Wen, formerly a president at leading AI face-recognition company SenseTime, and Jiao Guofang, who previously worked at Qualcomm and Huawei.

The company initially drew attention in 2022 when it unveiled a first batch of products, including its BR100 chip, which it claimed could match the performance of Nvidia's advanced H100 AI processor.