Why China Fast-Tracked This AI Chipmaker's IPO in Just 88 Days
- Former Nvidia executive Zhang Jianzhong has become a billionaire with a net worth of $4.3 billion following the explosive Shanghai IPO of his chip firm Moore Threads
- The company raised $1.1 billion and saw shares surge 425 percent as Chinese investors rallied behind domestic alternatives to Nvidia amid US sanctions
The trajectory of Moore Threads Technology Co has become a defining symbol of China's relentless pursuit of technological sovereignty. In late 2023 the company appeared to be on the brink of collapse after the US government added it to a trading blacklist. This move was designed to cut off access to critical foreign technologies and strangle the nascent chipmaker in its cradle. Founder Zhang Jianzhong was forced to lay off staff and faced an existential crisis just three years after launching the firm. Yet his response was one of defiant resolve rather than capitulation. He vowed to continue developing China's best allpurpose chips regardless of external pressure.
That determination has now paid off in spectacular fashion. Moore Threads recently completed a blockbuster initial public offering on the Shanghai STAR Market. The company raised 8 billion yuan or roughly $1.1 billion in what became the secondlargest mainland listing of the year. The market's reaction was nothing short of euphoric. Shares skyrocketed by 425 percent on their trading debut and pushed the company's valuation to nearly $40 billion.
This financial windfall has instantly minted a new class of ultrawealthy tech elites. Zhang Jianzhong who previously served as Nvidia's general manager in China now holds a stake worth over $4.3 billion. His cofounders have also joined the billionaire club. Vice President Zhang Yubo and Director Zhou Yuan along with Vice President Wang Dong each saw their personal fortunes swell to well over $1 billion. This wealth creation event underscores the massive appetite domestic investors have for homegrown semiconductor champions.
The frenzy surrounding Moore Threads is inextricably linked to the broader geopolitical conflict between Washington and Beijing. The US has imposed strict export controls that effectively bar Nvidia from selling its most advanced processors to Chinese clients. This policy has created a vacuum in the market that local firms are desperate to fill. The Star 50 Index which tracks China's tech sector has jumped 34 percent this year as capital floods into companies seen as vital to national security.
However skeptics argue that these valuations are detached from fundamental business reality. Shen Meng of Chanson & Co warns that the stock rally is driven more by political symbolism than economic logic. He notes that while these firms serve as powerful national icons their actual technological contribution remains modest compared to the Western giants they aim to replace. The "patriotic premium" baked into these stock prices may be unsustainable in the long run.
Zhang's background positions him uniquely to bridge this gap. He is a veteran of the global semiconductor industry with a resume that reads like a history of Western tech in China. He spent fifteen years leading Nvidia's operations in the country where he helped build the very ecosystem he is now trying to disrupt. before that he held leadership roles at HewlettPackard and Dell. This deep institutional knowledge of how US giants operate is perhaps his most valuable asset.
The capital raised from the IPO provides a critical lifeline for the company. Moore Threads is burning cash at an alarming rate as it attempts to scale. The firm accumulated losses of nearly 6 billion yuan between 2022 and late 2025. Despite revenue growing by 181 percent yearoveryear the path to profitability remains steep. The prospectus estimates that the company will not turn a profit until 2027 at the earliest.
Moore Threads differentiates itself from domestic peers by targeting the full spectrum of GPU capabilities. unlike rivals that focus solely on AI acceleration Zhang's chips are designed to handle 3D graphics rendering and physical simulation alongside AI training. This versatility mirrors the architecture that made Nvidia the world's most valuable chipmaker. However replicating decades of iterative innovation in just a few years is a monumental engineering challenge.
The regulatory environment in China has been incredibly supportive of this ambition. The China Securities Regulatory Commission approved Moore Threads' IPO application in just 88 days. This is a blistering pace compared to the typical 470day average for STAR Market listings. The government is clearly prioritizing the capitalization of firms that can help break the US stranglehold on advanced computing.
Strategic investors have also lined up to back the company. PreIPO funding included significant capital from Liang Wenfeng the founder of DeepSeek and HighFlyer. This institutional support validates Zhang's vision and provides a network of allies within the domestic tech ecosystem. The oversubscription of the IPO by more than 4,000 times indicates that retail investors are equally bought into the narrative.
The pressure on Nvidia continues to mount from both sides of the Pacific. US lawmakers are proposing new legislation to block the sale of even slightly downgraded chips to China for the next thirty months. simultaneously Chinese regulators are reportedly mandating that statefunded data centers replace foreign hardware with domestic alternatives. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has admitted that his company's market share in China has effectively collapsed from 95 percent to zero in certain sectors.
Moore Threads now stands at the center of this storm. It has the capital and the mandate to succeed but it must deliver on its technological promises. The initial euphoria of the IPO will eventually fade and the company will be judged on its ability to massproduce chips that can truly compete with the H200 and Blackwell processors. For Zhang Jianzhong the real work is just beginning.