"MetaX" Shares Surge 755% in Trading Debut

Shares of Chinese chip maker MetaX Integrated Circuits (Shanghai) Co. soared as much as 755% on their first day of trading in Shanghai, marking one of the strongest stock market debuts in China in recent years and underscoring surging investor enthusiasm for homegrown artificial intelligence chipmakers.

MetaX raised $585.8 million through its initial public offering, placing the stock on track to become the best-performing IPO valued between $500 million and $1 billion in China over the past decade. The blockbuster debut follows closely on the heels of strong gains recorded earlier this month by rival chipmaker Moore Threads Technology Co.

Like Moore Threads, MetaX designs graphics processing units (GPUs) tailored for artificial intelligence workloads, a sector experiencing rapid growth as AI adoption accelerates across industries. The stock’s sharp rally is also attracting investors who were unable to secure allocations during China’s highly competitive IPO subscription process.

Retail demand was particularly striking, with the individual investor tranche oversubscribed by 2,986 times, exceeding even Moore Threads’ 2,750-times coverage.

At its IPO price of 104.66 yuan per share, MetaX’s market capitalization rose to approximately 300 billion yuan, approaching the current valuation of Moore Threads at around 337 billion yuan.

Investors are increasingly wagering on the rise of Chinese “national champions” capable of competing with Nvidia, the global leader in AI chips, especially as U.S. export restrictions limit China’s access to Nvidia’s most advanced processors.

Moore Threads’ shares have already climbed more than sixfold over eight sessions since listing, after quintupling on their first trading day alone, setting a precedent that has fueled optimism around MetaX.

MetaX trades at a price-to-sales multiple of about 56.4 times, lower than the average of 127.4 times for comparable peers such as Cambricon Technologies and Advanced Micro Devices, according to the company’s exchange filings.

“Substitution of domestic products will continue to drive strong growth for these companies,” said Zhang Qixing, partner at Beijing Jili Asset Management Center. “There is enormous potential for a small number of firms to reach trillion-yuan market capitalizations.”

MetaX was founded by former executives of AMD, including Chairman and CEO Chen Weiliang. The company designs and sells GPUs used in AI workloads, gaming graphics, and other visualization applications.

In 2024, its Xiyun C500 AI chip series accounted for about 98% of total revenue, with the company stating that its performance is comparable to Nvidia’s A100 processor. MetaX also claims that its latest C588 chip has significantly narrowed the performance gap with Nvidia’s flagship H100.

According to data cited in its prospectus, MetaX captured roughly 1% of China’s AI chip market last year.

MetaX’s listing capped a busy day for Asian equity markets. Alongside the Chinese chipmaker, HashKey Holdings, Hong Kong’s largest licensed cryptocurrency exchange, Japan’s SBI Shinsei Bank, and Indonesia’s PT Super Bank Indonesia also made their market debuts. HashKey was the only one to trade below its IPO price.

IPO performance in China has been notably strong this year. Bloomberg-compiled data show that new listings have posted an average first-day gain of 250%, partly due to regulatory efforts to control the pace of offerings and preserve market liquidity.

Additional semiconductor firms, including ChangXin Memory Technologies and Yangtze Memory Technologies, are widely expected to pursue listings in China, potentially seeking valuations between 200 billion and 300 billion yuan. Meanwhile, several AI companies backed by Alibaba and Tencent are lining up for IPOs in Hong Kong as early as January.

“MetaX’s listing could help revive technology stocks and generate greater enthusiasm for both new and secondary offerings,” said Xu Dawei, a fund manager at Beijing-based Jintong Private Fund Management.

The surge highlights how China’s capital markets are increasingly becoming a battleground for the global AI race, one fueled as much by geopolitics as by technology.