The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

By Hudson Lockett

HONG KONG, June 12 (Reuters Breakingviews) - China’s stock market can't compete with Wall Street, which will soon host gargantuan IPOs from SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic. Yet it's still worth trying. Despite a recent clampdown on outflows, droves of local punters are still scrambling to access foreign debuts. Beyond wielding the stick of tighter capital controls, officials can also offer carrots: more listings for domestic investors that capitalise on the hottest trends in global technology.

The good news is there’s no shortage of companies ready to fill those shoes. Memory-chip giant ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) and robot maker Unitree Robotics recently received approval from the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s tech-focused Star Market for plans to raise at least $4.4 billion and $620 million, respectively. Those two offers alone would bring in more than double the funds raised so far this year on Star and put the market on course for its best year since 2023, according to Dealogic data.

Nor is there a shortage of investor enthusiasm: Star’s status as the premier onshore destination for aspiring national champions means its more than 600 companies trade at an average of 93 times earnings. The Star 50 Index .STAR50 is up 27% this year, outperforming the wider CSI 300 .CSI000300 benchmark's 3% gain. Star’s own website shows there are a whopping 1,010 firms now in its listings queue.

That's in large part because regulators have traditionally feared that lots of big offerings could spur mainland punters to sell shares to raise cash to throw at new listings, dragging down the broader market. To prevent this they’re drip-fed instead, especially during periods of low confidence, resulting in a chronic backlog and pent-up IPO demand. A partial substitute may be share sales by Hong Kong-listed firms like $64 billion AI outfit Zhipu 2513.HK, which last week confirmed plans to do exactly that. Market darling MiniMax 0100.HK has said it's mulling one as well.

That's at least a start to priming the pump for a steady flow of new stocks worth investing in. Opening the floodgates doesn’t appear to be on the cards at present, but there are almost certainly more CXMTs and Unitrees buried in that thousand-plus applicant pile just waiting to be fast-tracked. Time to get digging.

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CONTEXT NEWS

ChangXin Memory Technologies and Unitree Robotics have both received approval to sell shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s tech-focused Star Market, and are seeking to raise at least $4.4 billion and $620 million, respectively. The two initial public offerings are set to bring in more than double the total funds raised on Star year to date and would put the market on course for its best year since 2023, per figures from Dealogic.

China's securities regulator on May 25 said it will "resolutely crack down" on three Hong Kong brokerages for "illegal cross-border business operations".