MetaX started trading in Shanghai in a manner rare even in hot tech segments. The shares opened at 700 yuan against the IPO price of 104.66 yuan, and during the session they even reached 895 yuan. The day ended with a rate of 829.9 yuan, which means an increase of 693 percent The move was so sudden that some commentators talk about “the story of an IPO in which a crow turns into a phoenix”, but at the same time there are warnings that this may be the peak of quotations for a long time.
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There is also a domino effect. A few days earlier, larger rival Moore Threads surged about 400%. growth on debut. In practice, the market got a clear signal that AI + semiconductors are one of the strongest magnets for capital in China today.
Self-sufficiency instead of Nvidia and AMD
MetaX produces GPUs and uses the narrative that Beijing has been working on for months: reduce dependence on American suppliers, primarily Nvidia and AMD. He wants to build his own value chain in AI.
Special offer
The company was founded by former AMD managers and engineers (the core of the team comes from, among others, AMD Shanghai), and its history fits into the broader policy of “local technology” in conditions of geopolitical tensions.
The IPO brought MetaX 4.2 billion yuan (approx. USD 596 million), a demand from retail investors was huge. Subscriptions were to exceed the supply by over 4,000. times. At the same time, the company is currently unprofitable, and the IPO valuation was approximately 50 times 2024 sales, higher than the multipliers for Nvidia and AMD.
After the debut, the value of MetaX was increased to over 300 billion yuan (approx. USD 42.6 billion), even though the company has approximately 1 percent. Chinese AI chip market and itself points to a significant technological gap compared to the US leaders and the risk of supply chain constraints resulting from technological restrictions.
What does this mean for the US and European markets?
For the US, this is further proof that China is trying to “buy time and scale” with money from the capital market. A series of high-profile IPOs could allow local players to fund talent, R&D and the software ecosystem, even if they lag behind technologically today.
In the short term, this does not mean an automatic collapse of the position of Nvidia or AMD. Chinese companies themselves admit that a gap exists and demand for arrangements with the US is still strong. In the medium term, however growing strategic risk for American producers. If import substitution policies take effect, some future revenues from the Chinese market may be more difficult to defend, and U.S. investors may be more likely to discount the geopolitical ceiling for expansion.
For Europe, the importance is rather indirect, but significant. A demonstration of such high valuations and huge demand for technological sovereignty increases pressure for the EU to finalize its own strategy in the area of AI and semiconductors more quickly. Access to computing power is becoming an element of the competitiveness of the economy, and not just a topic for the IT industry.
The escalation of the US-China race also usually means greater uncertainty in global supply chains, which for European companies translates into higher costs, longer deadlines and the need to diversify supplies in AI and data center projects. Moreover, European capital markets can observe Chinese debuts as a barometer of appetite for “AI hardware”, but also as a warning. In a segment where politics and technology mix, pricing can outpace product advantage, and a change in regulation or component availability can quickly change the narrative.
