MetaX Integrated Circuits jumped 700% in its Shanghai market debut on Tuesday, becoming the latest Chinese AI chipmaker to tap into investor frenzy triggered by Beijing’s push to reduce reliance on U.S. firms like Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices. The five-year-old startup, founded by former AMD executives, opened at 700 yuan per share versus an IPO price of 104.66 yuan, before surging as high as 895 yuan. The stock ended the trading session at 829.9 yuan, up 693%, defying persistent AI bubble concerns in other markets and catapulting the company’s valuation to more than 300 billion yuan ($42.58 billion).
“It’s another IPO tale in China that turns a crow into a phoenix,” said fund manager Yang Tingwu at Tongheng Investment. The price surge creates huge arbitrage opportunities for pre-IPO investors, Yang added, warning that investors are “likely witnessing the stock’s peak level for the next five years.” The explosive market debut comes after larger rival Moore Threads delivered a 400% pop in late November, signaling unprecedented appetite for domestic semiconductor plays.
MetaX raised roughly $600 million in its initial public offering last week, marking China’s sixth biggest IPO so far this year, according to KPMG. The share sale was more than 4,000 times oversubscribed by retail investors, underscoring the strong momentum around AI Future of chips in the world’s second-largest economy. The offering priced the money-losing startup at 50 times its 2024 sales, compared to a multiple of 34 for Nvidia and 14 for AMD, the company noted in its pre-listing statement.
IPO fundraising in China Hits 23% in 2025 from a year earlier to exceed 160 billion yuan, with 23% of the proceeds going to the technology, media, and telecom sector. The capital influx reflects how Chinese policymakers are greenlighting IPOs for AI chipmakers to support home-grown advanced technology amid escalating Sino-U.S. tech rivalry. “Makers of AI chips are rushing to sell shares to capitalise on interest generated by a government drive to boost local production in competition with the U.S.,” analysts note.
Beijing’s Self-Sufficiency Drive Powers Chipmaking Boom
AI and semiconductors represent “key areas” of competition in the Sino-U.S. tech rivalry, Guotai Haitong Securities said in a report ahead of MetaX’s listing. Against the backdrop of geopolitical tension, chipmaking has growth potential as China seeks to achieve self-sufficiency in critical technologies. Researcher Frost & Sullivan forecast China AI chip supply sales to top $189 billion by 2029 versus $54 billion in 2026, representing a compound annual growth rate exceeding 30%.
The Chinese government’s continuous push to replace foreign suppliers using indigenous technology has triggered a wave of listings among domestic semiconductor firms. On Monday, AI chip startup Biren Technology won regulatory approval to sell shares publicly in Hong Kong, while rival Kunlunxin also plans an IPO in the city. Another AI chipmaker, Enflame, has hired Citic Securities to prepare for a flotation, industry sources confirm.
Former AMD Veterans Lead Technology Development
Chen Weiliang, 49, serves as founder and major shareholder of MetaX. After working at AMD Shanghai for 13 years, Chen founded the company with a mission to “contribute to China’s rejuvenation and national prosperity.” The founding team also included Peng Li and Yang Jian, both former AMD engineers who brought deep technical expertise from their years developing graphics processing units (GPUs) at the American semiconductor giant.
“The company is a leading GPU maker in China thanks to its AMD gene,” Li Hui, analyst at Huajin Securities, said in a report. The startup makes graphics processing units designed for artificial intelligence workloads and controls 1% of China’s AI chip market. MetaX projects its sales to double this year due to the tech self-reliance drive and expects to break even as early as next year, according to company guidance.
Valuation Concerns Emerge Despite Investor Enthusiasm
The debut boosted the wealth of founder Chen Weiliang substantially, though analysts question whether current valuations can be sustained. “Yuan Yuwei, fund manager at Trinity Synergy Investments, noted that “Domestic chipmakers lag U.S. rivals, but if they can raise tens or hundreds of billions to spend on talent, you cannot rule out their breakthrough” in closing the technology gap.
However, MetaX flagged a number of risk factors in its IPO prospectus, including supply chain disruption from U.S. technology restrictions as well as its significant technology gap with Nvidia and AMD. “MetaX’s technology lags Moore Threads, and it faces stiff competition from Huawei and Alibaba,” Yuan added, suggesting there’s “definitely froth in its share price” under current circumstances, though room to improve exists over time.
Competitive Landscape Intensifies Across Chip Segments
In the home GPU market, MetaX competes with Moore Threads—dubbed by analysts as “China’s Nvidia”—as well as Hygon Information Technology and Biren. The latter raised $1.1 billion in its Shanghai IPO in late November, demonstrating sustained investor appetite for domestic AI chip plays. In the so-called ASIC chip business, competition includes Cambricon, Huawei Technologies’ HiSilicon, Baidu’s Kunlunxin, and Alibaba Group’s T-Head.
The competitive dynamics may shift as U.S. President Donald Trump this month greenlighted export of Nvidia’s second-fastest AI chips to China, with Nvidia considering adding production capacity for its H200 AI chips due to strong orders from Chinese clients. This development could pressure domestic players to accelerate innovation, though analysts believe the Chinese government will continue prioritizing local champions through favorable policies and capital access.
