China’s PDD Holdings, parent of Temu, moves headquarters to Ireland

PDD Holdings, the parent firm of e-commerce sites Temu and Pinduoduo, moved its headquarters from China to Ireland, underscoring the Chinese tech giant’s international push.

The U.S.-listed firm noted the Irish capital of Dublin as its “principal executive offices” in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It had previously listed Shanghai as its main office. Semafor first spotted the change.

A representative for PDD was not immediately available for comment on the reason for the change when contacted by CNBC.

PDD Holdings started off as Pinduoduo, the fast-growing discount e-commerce firm in China. The company rebranded this year to PDD Holdings, creating a parent company for Pinduoduo and Temu, its international e-commerce effort.

The move to Ireland perhaps signals PDD’s attempt to boost its international presence. Temu quietly launched last year. It is trying to replicate the success that Chinese fast fashion brand Shein has found and potentially also challenge the likes of Amazon with its wide array of cheap products.

PDD has made a big marketing push with Temu in the U.S. and even bought an ad spot at this year’s Super Bowl, which often go for millions of dollars.

Temu’s app has been installed more than 50 million times since its launch in September 2022, according to Apptopia. It took Shein about three years to cross this mark.

Gross merchandise value, which is the total amount transacted across Temu’s platform, rose from $3 million in September to $387 million in March, according to market research firm YipitData.

Ireland is a popular location for foreign technology companies to set up shop due to its membership in the European Union and low headline corporation tax rate of 12.5%. Meta and Apple are among a number of U.S. tech giants with European headquarters in Ireland.