CHINESE artificial intelligence (AI) firm Megvii Technology Ltd. plans to seek listing approval today for a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) of at least US$500 million, sources said, despite being blacklisted by the U.S. Government.

However, Beijing-based Megvii, which is backed by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and is widely known for its facial recognition platform Face++, has yet to decide whether to carry out a roadshow once approval is granted, the sources said.

Sources had previously said the listing was scheduled for Hong Kong in the fourth quarter and might raise US$1 billion.

The latest move comes weeks after the U.S. Government placed Megvii and seven other Chinese companies on a trade blacklist.

Megvii last month said it “strongly objects” to being added to the blacklist and there were “no grounds” for the designation.

Megvii and the three banks declined to comment. But people close to the deal said that the listing approval would give the company and its sponsors some room for maneuver.

“Receiving the approval would give Megvii flexibility to launch the deal whenever it sees a window. But the deal itself could be a hard sell as many U.S. investors would probably shun it, as long as the company is on the blacklist,” one of the sources said.

Megvii was founded in 2011 by CEO Yin Qi and two friends from Tsinghua University. If the deal goes ahead, it will become the first Chinese AI firm to go public. (SD-Agencies)