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Sun Aixiang, a Chinese businessman who spent nearly two decades selling glue and tape, has become a billionaire after shares of Shenzhen HFC, the chip-cooling materials company he co-founded, soared on their first day of trading.
Shenzhen HFC listed on the ChiNext board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Sept. 29. The stock rose as much as 719.7% during the session and closed up 653.16%. Sun, 58, is the company's chairman, and Forbes estimates his fortune at $1.7 billion based on his stake.
The listing also made his brother-in-law a billionaire. Zhao Jianping, 63, a company director who co-founded the business with Sun, is worth an estimated $1.3 billion, according to Forbes.
Neither man came to the business from engineering. After finishing high school, Sun spent almost 20 years selling plastics and adhesive products, including glue and tape. Zhao ran a stone factory and a textile business before the two started Shenzhen HFC in 2003.
The company raised 1.4 billion yuan ($214.4 million) in its initial public offering, selling 18.7 million shares at 76.9 yuan each. Strategic investors in the offering included optical transceiver maker Eoptolink and Alibaba's cloud computing unit. Huawei's venture capital arm, Hubble Investment, held a 4.11% stake before the IPO, making it the company's sixth-largest shareholder. Shenzhen HFC plans to spend most of the proceeds on research centers in China.
Shenzhen HFC makes the materials that keep electronics from overheating. Its main products are thermal pads and thermally conductive gels, which sit between chips and cooling hardware and help move heat away. The materials are used with artificial intelligence chips, in optical modules and in data center equipment. The company also produces shielding and wave-absorbing materials that protect electronic devices from electromagnetic interference.
That business has grown quickly as companies around the world pour money into data centers to run AI systems, which use powerful chips that generate large amounts of heat. Shenzhen HFC's revenue rose 114% in 2025 to 706.7 million yuan, or about $105 million, according to its prospectus. Net income nearly quadrupled from the previous year to 269 million yuan, about $40 million.
Most of that growth has come from outside China. The company earns about two-thirds of its revenue overseas, and Hon Hai Precision Industry, the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer better known as Foxconn, is one of its largest customers.
The size of the first-day jump follows a familiar pattern in China's stock market. Investors have piled into newly listed companies seen as important to Beijing's drive for technological self-reliance, betting on sharp gains in early trading. Chinese authorities have recognized Shenzhen HFC as a national-level "little giant," a designation given to small and midsize companies that specialize in key industrial technologies.
The company has cautioned investors that its recent pace may not last. In its prospectus, Shenzhen HFC said global economic uncertainty and efforts by customers to diversify their supply chains could slow its growth.
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