Chinese Chip Companies Intensify Push Against U.S., New Players Line Up for IPOs Amid Build and Use Strategy
The Chinese chip market is fiercely competitive as new domestic chip makers queue for IPOs on China's stock exchanges, rushing to raise capital. This follows government efforts encouraging all sectors to increasingly rely on domestic technology, aiming to make China's AI industry globally competitive.
The IPO market has become more active after two major producers recently listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange: Moore Threads, whose stock surged over 425% on its first day, and MetaX, whose shares jumped nearly 700%. Both companies develop GPUs.
These developments clearly signal China's massive chip demand, and experts foresee the country emerging as a significant competitor challenging Nvidia in the future.
“China is quickly catching up in the chip war, and it wouldn't be surprising if in 2026 or 2027 we witness another DeepSeek moment in the chip industry, with China breaking into the low-cost chip market,” said Matt Toms, Head of Cash Equity Execution at Barclays Asia Pacific. “This could potentially disrupt Nvidia and its entire supply chain.”
Listing of new Chinese companies preparing IPOs
According to Bloomberg, stocks in the Star 50 index, which focuses on semiconductor companies, have outperformed the CSI 300, the main index on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Recently, several new companies are lined up to enter the stock market, including:
- Shanghai Biren Technology, founded in 2019, focuses on developing graphics processing units (GPUs) and is seen as a key domestic competitor to Nvidia.
- Biren filed for an IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange earlier this month and was approved to issue 372.5 million new shares.
- It is expected that upon IPO, the company will be valued around 600 million U.S. dollars.
- A subsidiary of Baidu specializing in AI chip development, Kunlunxin has filed for an IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
- Currently, Kunlunxin is valued at about 3 billion U.S. dollars.
- The company develops AI chips for data centers to support its parent company's growing online business.
- Shanghai Iluvatar CoreX Semiconductor, founded in 2015, is another key domestic competitor to Nvidia in China. It recently filed for an IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
- Iluvatar CoreX raised 170 million U.S. dollars in 2021 and another 142 million U.S. dollars in 2022 through funding rounds.
- Its post-IPO valuation is estimated between 300 and 400 million U.S. dollars.
- Shanghai Enflame Technology, a startup founded in 2018 by former AMD employees, is supported by Tencent and China's semiconductor fund.
- Last year, Enflame aimed to raise 2 billion yuan (about 284 million U.S. dollars) through an IPO on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
- GigaDevice Semiconductor, a chip developer and designer, has already listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
- The company specializes in memory chips and microcontrollers used in electronics and automation devices.
- It plans to file another IPO in Hong Kong in January, targeting over 1 billion U.S. dollars in fundraising.
- Montage Technology specializes in memory chips for data centers.
- Like GigaDevice, it is listed in Shanghai and expects to raise over 1 billion U.S. dollars from a Hong Kong IPO in January.
- ChangXin Memory Technologies is China's largest memory chip manufacturer.
- The company has begun commercial production of advanced chips for mobile devices such as smartphones, becoming the first domestic firm to compete in a market previously dominated by Samsung Electronics.
- ChangXin Memory plans to register on the domestic stock exchange, with a potential valuation of up to 300 billion yuan (over 42.6 billion U.S. dollars).
- Founded in 2016 in Wuhan, Yangtze Memory Technologies specializes in designing and producing 3D NAND memory chips and advanced memory solutions.
- The company is preparing for an IPO on the domestic stock exchange, expecting a valuation of up to 40 billion U.S. dollars.
Currently, China is increasingly seeking domestic products to replace those from the United States, which has become a key driver boosting these companies’ confidence to enter the stock market.
Zhang Kexing, partner at Beijing Gelei Asset Management Center Limited Partnership, said, “These companies continue to grow strongly and have significant potential; some may reach market valuations of one trillion yuan.”
