New billionaires emerge every day, especially in the tech world. Recently, the CEO and founder of a startup named MetaX rose to become a new billionaire in China by taking the company public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, raising over $600 million and boosting the company's valuation to $5.9 billion after shares surged as high as 755% on the first day before settling at 693% by market close.
This sharp stock increase resulted in Chen Weiliang, the CEO and founder, who holds 55 million shares, seeing his wealth skyrocket to $6.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.
MetaX is a Chinese GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) developer that began as a startup in Shanghai, specializing in the comprehensive research and development of high-performance GPUs. It is a fabless chip designer without its own manufacturing facilities, similar to global leaders like Nvidia and AMD.
Founded in September 2020 by Chen Weiliang, a former senior executive at AMD China for 13 years, MetaX now has R&D centers in major Chinese cities including Beijing, Nanjing, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan, and Changsha.
MetaX excels in developing GPUs and full-stack GPU solutions for heterogeneous computing, which combines multiple processor types. Its technology supports wide applications such as intelligent computing, smart cities, cloud computing, autonomous vehicles, digital twins, and the metaverse.
MetaX’s product portfolio includes a full range of GPUs, with several series planned to meet diverse performance and versatility needs:
After Chen Weiliang founded MetaX, the company attracted many talented former AMD employees, forming what Bloomberg calls an “AMD Gang.” One early recruit was Peng Li, appointed Chief Technology Officer and the first female Chinese scientist at AMD.Bloombergreported this.
In November, Moore Threads Technology, another GPU chip developer founded the same year as MetaX and a key competitor in China, also went public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, raising $1.1 billion. It has been dubbed the “Nvidia of China,” partly because its founder was a senior Nvidia executive.
The domestic Chinese market has become fiercely competitive, with new companies listing while established giants like Huawei Technologies, Hygon Information Technology, and Cambricon Technologies accelerate their efforts amid trade tensions pressuring China’s chip sector from the U.S.
Recently, former U.S. President Donald Trump eased trade tensions somewhat, especially for AI chips developed by Nvidia like the H200, allowing Nvidia to export to China but requiring a 25% U.S. share of the market.
However, China appears to continue resisting U.S. chips. According tothe Financial Times,China is trying to limit the use of Nvidia’s H200 chips by requiring buyers to obtain government approval and justify why domestic chips do not meet their needs.
“We must acknowledge that Huawei, Hygon, and Cambricon have more mature products and stronger customer relationships,” said Matthew Deng, Director at BDA China. .
MetaX holds about a 1% share of China’s chip market and is aggressively burning cash to catch up with Nvidia in performance and production capacity. From 2022 to 2024, it has invested over 2.2 billion yuan (approximately $312 million) in R&D alone.
Although revenues have grown rapidly, reaching 915 million yuan (about $130 million) in the first half of 2025—already surpassing the previous year’s total—the path to profitability remains uncertain. In 2024, the company posted a net loss of 1.41 billion yuan (around $200 million).
MetaX expects to break even by 2026, but this goal depends on the flagship C500 chip’s ability to maintain market position and compete effectively against major rivals like Huawei’s Ascend series.
Beyond financial figures, MetaX’s business structure reflects vulnerabilities common among Chinese companies growing under import substitution policies, such as dependence on a small number of customers. One of its largest clients in the first quarter of 2025 was H3C Technologies, a government-backed entity that serves as a key channel for introducing Chinese chips into state data centers.
Another significant risk is production, as MetaX operates a fabless model, designing chips but relying on external foundries. This supply chain dependency remains an unavoidable vulnerability.
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