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China’s Nvidia challengers Moore Threads and MetaX are set for their hotly anticipated market debuts, driven by investor excitement over domestic demand for home-grown graphics processing units (GPUs) amid Beijing’s tech self-sufficiency drive.
Beijing-based GPU maker Moore Threads, which was 4,000 times oversubscribed after launching its 8 billion yuan (US$1.13 billion) initial public offering (IPO) last week, will be listed on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-style Star Market on Friday, according to a company filing on Wednesday.
Moore Threads opened a subscription lottery last week at 114.28 yuan per share, the highest pricing among A-share listings this year, and retail investors scrambled to secure a piece of the action, driving the final allotment rate down to just 0.036 per cent.
Shanghai-based MetaX set its IPO pricing at 104.66 yuan, according to a company filing on Wednesday. MetaX aims to raise 4.2 billion yuan from the listing.
Both companies – known as “fabless” chipmakers because they outsource fabrication of their chips to foundries – are closely watched for their efforts to develop home-grown alternatives to Nvidia GPUs.

MetaX’s flagship general-purpose C600 GPU offers performance specs somewhere between Nvidia’s A100 and H100 chips, Chen Weiliang, chairman and general manager of the company, said during an online roadshow on Thursday.
The C600 would enter so-called risk production by the end of this year and begin full mass production in the first half of 2026, according to Chen.
The next-generation C700 GPU, which will rely entirely on a domestic supply chain, delivered a “substantial improvement” in capabilities to rival the H100, Chen said. The chip was slated to be ready for manufacturing in the second half of 2026.
“Aligning closely with the national trend of strategic emerging industries, the company is committed to the independent research and development, commercialisation and mass application of GPU technology,” Chen said during the roadshow.
“We will benchmark against leading international brands to refine our product portfolio.”
Citing Bernstein Research, MetaX noted that in 2024 Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices held 66 per cent and 5 per cent of China’s AI accelerator market, respectively, while Huawei Technologies’ subsidiary HiSilicon accounted for 23 per cent and MetaX about 1 per cent.
Stringent US export controls, as well as tighter scrutiny from the Chinese government, have left Nvidia’s future in China hanging in the balance while creating a void for its Chinese rivals to fill.
Nvidia has seen its China market share for advanced AI chips drop from 95 per cent to virtually zero, according to CEO Jensen Huang.
However, the US government was considering allowing the company to sell its H200 artificial intelligence chips to China, Reuters reported in late November, citing anonymous sources.
Huang met US President Donald Trump on Wednesday to discuss the export controls. While Huang declined to share details about their conversation, he said he was unsure about Beijing’s stance in allowing Chinese companies to buy the H200, Bloomberg reported.
“We don’t know. We have no clue,” Huang told reporters. “We can’t degrade chips that we sell to China, they won’t accept that.”


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Artificial intelligence (AI)

China’s Nvidia challengers set for bumper IPOs amid tech self-sufficiency drive

The Moore Threads MCCX D800 AI server is displayed at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, July 5, 2024. Photo: SCMP

The US government is said to be considering allowing Nvidia to sell its H200 AI chips to China. Photo: Shutterstock Images

Moore Threads’ IPO frenzy energises China’s home-grown GPU drive

Moore Threads’ MTT S400 GPUs
Photo: Moore Threads

James Zhang Jianzhong, CEO of Moore Threads. The IPO has drawn 4000 times subscription from retail investors. Photo: Moore Threads 

Huawei-style ‘chip stacking’ seen as a path for China to rival Nvidia’s GPUs

China hopes to steal a march on Nvidia by combining relatively mature chips with new computing architectures. Photo: Shutterstock 

Global AI development has so far remained “deeply bound” to Nvidia’s GPU architecture. Photo: Shutterstock

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Shanghai-based MetaX set its IPO pricing at 104.66 yuan, according to a company filing on Wednesday


Shanghai-based MetaX set its IPO pricing at 104.66 yuan, according to a company filing on Wednesday.


China’s Nvidia challengers set for bumper IPOs amid tech self-sufficiency drive

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Shanghai-based MetaX set its IPO pricing at 104.66 yuan, according to a company filing on Wednesday

Shanghai-based MetaX set its IPO pricing at 104.66 yuan, according to a company filing on Wednesday