- The listing gives China’s quantum technology sector its first public company focused on precision measurement
- Investors are betting on a homegrown alternative to decades of foreign dominance in scientific instruments
Ciqtek (国仪量子), a Chinese developer of quantum precision measurement equipment, surged 418% in its Shanghai STAR Market debut on August 11, giving the company a market value that briefly exceeded 44 billion yuan ($6.5 billion).
The Hefei-based company, whose stock trades under the ticker 688828, opened at 110 yuan per share, compared with its IPO price of 21.22 yuan.
Shares later reached an intraday high of 118 yuan before paring off gains to 100.7 yuan by midday, valuing the company at about 40.3 billion yuan.
Building China’s quantum measurement industry
Founded in Hefei in 2016, Ciqtek was spun out of research conducted at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and the University of Science and Technology of China.
The company is led by post-90s founder He Yu (贺羽), a former participant in the university’s elite Young Talent Program, and focuses on quantum precision measurement and advanced scientific instruments.
Ciqtek is among a small number of companies globally capable of independently developing the full chain of quantum sensing technologies.
According to domestic media, it is also China’s only company able to independently develop and manufacture electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometers, a key analytical instrument used in materials science, chemistry and life sciences.
The company has contributed to four of seven national standards in the quantum measurement field.
Riding the localization wave
Despite its technology achievements, Ciqtek remains in the early commercialization stage.
Revenue rose from about 400 million yuan in 2023 to 670 million yuan in 2025, while adjusted net losses narrowed from 169 million yuan to 19 million yuan over the same period. It expects to become profitable as early as 2026.
The company’s growth is tied to China’s push to reduce reliance on imported scientific equipment.
High-end instruments have long been dominated by suppliers from the U.S., Europe and Japan, with China still relying heavily on imports in fields such as electron microscopy and mass spectrometry.
Ciqtek has developed domestic alternatives in areas including electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, supplying more than 80 leading universities and over 150 research institutions. Its customers include companies such as BOE, BYD and CATL.
A quantum cluster reaches capital markets
Ciqtek’s IPO marks another milestone for Hefei’s ambition to build a complete quantum technology ecosystem.
With Ciqtek now listed, Hefei has companies covering three major quantum technology segments: measurement through Ciqtek, communication through QuantumCTek (国盾量子), and computing through Origin Quantum (本源量子), which is also pursuing an IPO.
For global quantum industry observers, the listing highlights China’s effort to move quantum technologies from academic research into commercial markets.
The company’s more than 400% first-day gain also shows that investors are willing to assign significant premiums to hard-tech companies with strategic importance, even before they reach profitability.
For global deep-tech startups facing long development cycles, Ciqtek offers another example of how capital markets may value technological scarcity and strategic relevance over near-term earnings.
