MetaX IPO Soars 755% Another Chip From China Ready to Beat Nvidia
- MetaX shares jumped 755% in Shanghai, raising nearly $600 million and marking one of the strongest IPOs of the decade in China.
- The surge is driven by demand for domestic alternatives to Nvidia, as US export bans force China to develop its own AI chip ecosystem.
- MetaX, led by former AMD executives, claims its chips rival Nvidia's A100 and H100 models, though it currently holds only 1% of the local market
Chinese chipmaker MetaX Integrated Circuits Shanghai Co. staged a historic market debut on Wednesday, with its shares soaring as much as 755% in Shanghai trading. The company raised approximately $585.8 million in its initial public offering, pricing shares at 104.66 yuan, only to see them skyrocket to over 835 yuan immediately after the bell rang. This massive surge places MetaX on track to record the best performance for an IPO between $500 million and $1 billion in China over the last decade. The listing adds to a frenzy of activity in the Asian markets, coinciding with debuts from other regional players like Hong Kong’s HashKey Holdings and Indonesia’s Super Bank, though MetaX was the clear outlier in terms of performance.
The driving force behind this valuation explosion is the intense investor appetite for "national champions" capable of rivaling global giants like Nvidia. With the US blocking the sale of advanced chips to China, domestic investors are betting heavily on local alternatives to fill the void in the red-hot artificial intelligence sector. This enthusiasm resulted in a retail oversubscription rate of 2,986 times, exceeding even the demand for Moore Threads, another GPU maker that saw its stock quintuple upon its recent debut. Analysts suggest that while growth potential is a factor, there is a distinct "nationalistic element" driving capital toward these firms as Beijing pushes for semiconductor self-sufficiency.
MetaX, founded by former AMD executive Chen Weiliang, explicitly targets the high-performance computing market dominated by Western tech. The company claims its Xiyun C500 series is comparable to Nvidia’s A100 and accounted for nearly 98% of its total revenue in 2024. Furthermore, MetaX asserts that its newer C588 generation has significantly narrowed the performance gap with Nvidia’s powerful H100 chip. Despite capturing only about 1% of China’s AI chip market last year, the company’s valuation has now ballooned to over 300 billion yuan ($55 billion), creating a massive windfall for its founder, whose stake is now valued at approximately $7 billion.
However, the euphoria masks underlying challenges. Market watchers note that Chinese IPOs have averaged a 250% "pop" this year, partly because authorities have throttled the number of new issuances to preserve market liquidity, creating artificial scarcity. Additionally, experts warn that while these companies are receiving extraordinary state support, they still lag significantly behind global leaders in terms of ecosystems and system-level performance. The massive valuations also bring scrutiny regarding profitability, as these firms face heavy cash burn and intense domestic competition from rivals like Enflame Technology and Biren Technology
Looking ahead, MetaX's blockbuster listing is expected to energize the broader tech sector and pave the way for other major semiconductor players. Companies like ChangXin Memory Technologies and Yangtze Memory Technologies are reportedly eyeing valuations in the 200 to 300 billion yuan range for their potential listings. Simultaneously, a wave of AI startups including MiniMax and Zhipu are rushing to complete their IPOs in Hong Kong as soon as January. As the "tech war" intensifies, the capital markets have become the new frontline, with investors seemingly willing to overlook immediate risks in favor of long-term geopolitical bets