Shares in MetaX Integrated Circuits, a prominent Chinese designer of graphics processing units for artificial intelligence, skyrocketed by around 700% on their debut in Shanghai on Wednesday. This came after the firm secured nearly $600 million through its initial public offering.
Set at 104.66 yuan in the IPO, the shares blasted to above 835 yuan at the opening, chalking up a 697% gain that highlights fierce investor demand for domestic semiconductor innovators.
The dramatic rise parallels the stellar launch of Moore Threads earlier this month, which saw a robust debut at the start of the month, a fellow Beijing developer of AI GPUs. MetaX is capitalising on China’s AI surge, where global chip revenues for such tech reached $45 billion in 2024 according to TrendForce, and Beijing seeks a bigger foothold despite U.S. restrictions.
Since 2022, Washington has tightened export controls on high-end technology, effectively blocking Nvidia’s flagship H100 and A100 processors from China and opening a market gap estimated at over $20 billion by Reuters. This has spurred a wave of local challengers, including Enflame Technology and Biren Technology, all racing to meet booming GPU needs.
Chinese regulators have greenlit more than 20 semiconductor listings in 2025—double the 2024 figure, per the South China Morning Post—fuelling a drive for AI autonomy. MetaX’s entry on the Shanghai STAR board aligns perfectly with this momentum.
Moore Threads, often called “China’s Nvidia,” similarly exploded over 400% in early December post its $1.1 billion listing.
Eugene Hsiao, equity analyst at Macquarie, links the buzz for IPOs like MetaX to expectations of a self-reliant Chinese chip industry amid enduring U.S. strains.
“For that to work, you need these players. You need names like Moore Threads, MetaX, etc,” he said.
“So I think when investors are looking at these IPOs, they implicitly are thinking about the nationalistic element,” Hsiao noted, adding that the main driver of the frenzy, however, was the firms’ growth potential.
Bloomberg Intelligence projects China’s AI chip sector could hit $100 billion by 2030, backed by yearly state funding topping 100 billion yuan. Still, firms like MetaX trail Nvidia by two to three generations in capability, notes a Semiconductor Industry Association study, though swift innovation promises to narrow that divide.