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China's leading e-commerce company is reportedly considering a spinoff and separate listing for its chip-making unit, following a similar plan by Baiduimage credit: Bamboo WorksKey Takeaways:Alibaba is reportedly weighing a plan to spin off and list its T-Head unit, hoping to join the ranks of other Chinese AI chipmakers with extremely high valuationsShares of rival chipmaker Biren have nearly doubled since their Jan. 2 Hong Kong trading debut, while Moore Threads is up nearly fivefold since its December Shanghai listingIf opening one lock doesn't work, then try another. That seems to be the latest story at e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE:BABA) ( 9988.HK), which is reportedly considering a spinoff and separate listing for T-Head, its chip-making division.If it happens, the spinoff, often called "unlocking shareholder value," would come nearly three years after the company announced a much bigger plan to split itself into its six main divisions and make separate listings for some or all of those. Company watchers will know that plan ultimately got scrapped, and Alibaba has largely remained intact in its current form since then.Somewhat ironically, the T-Head division now being planned for a potential spinoff is closely tied to Alibaba's Cloud Intelligence Unit, though T-Head's website only describes itself as "a wholly-owned semiconductor chip business entity of Alibaba Group." The cloud unit was one of the first of Alibaba's six units to scrap its spinoff under the original breakup plan. At the time, one of the stated reasons was U.S. restrictions that banned Chinese companies from buying advanced AI chips from Nvidia (NVDA.US) and other U.S. suppliers.T-Head and a growing group of other Chinese chip startups are working hard to fill that gap by developing their own AI chips, formally known as graphics processing units (GPUs). Some of those companies are parts of larger names like Huawei's HiSilicon and Baidu's (NASDAQ:BIDU) (9888.HK) Kunlunxin.Others are standalone startups like Moore Threads (688795.SH), Cambricon (688256.SH) and Biren (6082.HK), whose shares have all soared lately. Since its listing on Jan. 2, Biren's shares have nearly doubled. Moore Threads are up more than fivefold since their December IPO. All three companies have triple-digit price-to-sales (P/S) ratios, with Moore Threads and ...Full story available on Benzinga.com