China’s Nvidia-like Moore Threads soars 425% after $1.5 billion IPO

SHANGHAI – Shares of Moore Threads Technology, dubbed by analysts as “China’s Nvidia”, soared on its trading debut in Shanghai on Dec 5, on bets the US-blacklisted start-up will benefit from Beijing’s drive to boost domestic chip manufacturing.

The firm’s stock skyrocketted as much as 502 per cent after being sold at 114.28 yuan a piece during the initial public offering. It closed up 425 per cent, marking the biggest first-day pop for a major IPO since China’s 2019 reforms.

The listing comes as optimism over China’s drive for tech self-sufficiency intensifies, fueled by trade tensions and fears of US technology curbs. Moore Threads’ share frenzy stands out in an otherwise sluggish market, signaling strong investor appetite in specific sectors like this year’s AI winners.

Beijing has stepped up approval of IPOs by semiconductor firms in a push towards tech self-sufficiency, with Washington restricting advanced chip exports to China in a bid to curb its development of artificial intelligence (AI) and military capabilities.

Chinese tech giants including Huawei, Alibaba and Baidu have also stepped up investments in AI chip development, as China restricted Nvidia’s chip sales in the country.

Moore Threads, which makes graphics processing units (GPUs) for artificial intelligence computing, could become a key force in accelerating China’s efforts to replace foreign chips with local technology, brokerage Sinolink Securities said in a report initiating coverage with a “buy” rating on the stock.

“The era of AI is driving rapid expansion in GPU demand,” Sinolink Securities analyst Fan Zhiyuan said.

Sinolink Securities had set a target price for Moore Threads of 182.25 yuan.

The company last week raised nearly eight billion yuan (S$1.5 billion) selling shares publicly.

Its performance on Shanghai’s STAR Market is being closely watched amid worries about stretched tech valuations. A strong debut for the company would bode well for a growing number of home-grown semiconductor firms eyeing listings as they ride on China’s efforts to reduce reliance on foreign chip suppliers.

Moore Threads, whose IPO was priced at 123 times 2024 sales, expects 2025 sales to jump as much as 242 per cent to 1.5 billion yuan, as it joins several other Chinese start-ups seeking to fill Nvidia’s void.

Origins

Founded in 2020 by former Nvidia China executive Zhang Jianzhong, Moore Threads had started out earning revenue from graphics chips for gaming and visual rendering before pivoting to AI accelerators used in powering large language models. 

A major setback came in October 2023 when the US Commerce Department added the firm to its entity list, barring access to key technologies, a move that resulted in job cuts and restructuring. 

Despite the setback, investor optimism has only picked up as Beijing promoted the sector as a key part of its push into technology supremacy. The Star 50 Index, which tracks the biggest companies on the Star Board, has jumped more than 30 per cent in 2025, with shares of chip designer Cambricon Technologies doubling.

A strong debut for Moore Threads would bode well for a growing number of home-grown semiconductor firms eyeing listings as they ride on China’s efforts to reduce reliance on foreign chip suppliers. MetaX Integrated Circuits Shanghai, a closely watched peer, opens subscriptions on Dec 12. Meanwhile, memory chipmakers Yangtze Memory Technologies and ChangXin Memory Technologies are weighing onshore IPOs that could value each at up to 300 billion yuan. 

Recent listings have performed well because market sentiment has been muted, “so it makes sense for a sizeable jump at its debut”, said Mr Chen Zunde, a fund manager at Guangdong Fund Investment. Still, some worry the IPO could siphon funds from peers, adding pressure to the market, he added. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG