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Che Pan

A Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer, founded by a veteran of Nvidia’s mainland operations, has become a joint-stock company that paves the way for its initial public offering (IPO), even as the US continues to tighten tech restrictions.
The capital base of Moore Threads Technology, a Beijing-based graphics processing unit (GPU) start-up, on October 29 swelled to 330 million yuan (US$46 million) from 24 million yuan previously, while its corporate status was changed to a joint-stock company from a limited-liability company, according to data from corporate registry information provider Qichacha.
Such a change is usually a precursor for a planned debut on the stock market.
Moore Threads declined to comment on Monday.

The company has drawn the interest of private and government investors, benefiting from China’s growing self-sufficiency drive aimed at building the nation’s capability to manufacture its own advanced chips. US sanctions have restricted shipments of Nvidia’s top GPUs used for training AI systems to the mainland, which remains the California-based chip designer’s third-largest market by revenue.
In November 2023, Moore Threads raised over 2 billion yuan in a Series B+ funding round led by venture firms Houxue Capital and Pioneer Investment (China), car parts and internet games maker Zhejiang Century Huatong Group and private equity firm Zhonghe Capital. The unicorn was valued at 77.42 billion yuan before that round, according to data from start-up investment tracker PitchBook.
Since its founding in 2020 by Zhang Jianzhong, former general manager of Nvidia’s Chinese unit, Moore Threads has received US$800 million in funding from over two dozen active investors, including Big Tech firms ByteDance and Tencent Holdings, venture firm HongShan and state-backed investment vehicle Beijing Zhongguancun Science City Innovation Development, PitchBook data showed.
If it does move towards a public listing, Moore Threads will join its domestic rivals Biren Technology and Enflame, which have both kicked off the tutoring process compulsory for IPO applicants in China, the Post reported previously.
The three companies are so-called fabless designers, which depend on external chip manufacturing contractors to mint their semiconductor designs onto silicon wafers. However, both Biren and Moore Threads were added to Washington’s Entity List in October last year, preventing them from accessing the services of global foundries, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, and dealing a blow to their chip ambitions.
Still, those challenges have not stopped Moore Threads from pivoting to AI accelerators – chips designed specifically to handle AI tasks – amid skyrocketing demand.
In September last year, the company launched its third-generation general-purpose GPU Quyuan and the Quyuan-based AI accelerator MTT S4000, optimised for the training of large models.


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The GPU and AI-accelerator start-up, founded by an Nvidia veteran, has become a joint-stock company after fresh investments


The GPU and AI-accelerator start-up, founded by an Nvidia veteran, has become a joint-stock company after fresh investments.


US-sanctioned Moore Threads, China’s AI chip unicorn, moves closer to possible IPO

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The GPU and AI-accelerator start-up, founded by an Nvidia veteran, has become a joint-stock company after fresh investments

The GPU and AI-accelerator start-up, founded by an Nvidia veteran, has become a joint-stock company after fresh investments