Moore Threads shares jump fivefold in Shanghai trading debut in rush for 'China's Nvidia'
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Moore Threads Technology surged by more than fivefold in Shanghai, as enthusiastic investors vied to get shares of the Beijing-based semiconductor supplier used in artificial intelligence, helping to mark the second-biggest trading debut in China's stock market this year.
Moore's shares began trading at 650 yuan amid a declining market, a 468 per cent jump from their initial public offering (IPO) price of 114.28 yuan. China's benchmark CSI300 Index slipped 0.1 per cent.
The surge in Moore reflects China's prioritisation of technology self-sufficiency in a critical five-year plan that outlined the nation's economic and social development goals through 2030. China is now engaged in a tit-for-tat competition with the US in the tech area from AI large-language models to sophisticated chips and robotics.
Moore raised 8 billion yuan (US$1.13 billion) in the second-largest IPO on the mainland this year. Proceeds from the IPO will finance its next-generation projects in AI and graphics chips and supplement working capital. The offering is only smaller than Huadian New Energy Group's US$2.7 billion IPO in July.
Moore Threads' MTT S400 GPUs. Photo: Handout alt=Moore Threads' MTT S400 GPUs. Photo: Handout>
Dubbed "China's Nvidia", Moore had a quick path to the capital market, getting the green light from the China Securities Regulatory Commission in October, a mere four months after its application, compared with the average processing time of about 470 days for last year's applicants on the Shanghai Stock Exchange Science and Technology Innovation Board (STAR Market).
The company had significant backers. Liang Wenfeng, the founder of the large language model firm DeepSeek and the quantitative hedge fund HighFlyer, was listed as the top institutional investor, having invested 7 million yuan in Moore before its IPO, according to mainland media.
James Zhang Jianzhong, founder of Moore Threads Intelligent Technology, during the launch ceremony of China's first GPU-based computing platform for artificial intelligence (AI) training in Beijing on December 19, 2023. Photo: Handout alt=James Zhang Jianzhong, founder of Moore Threads Intelligent Technology, during the launch ceremony of China's first GPU-based computing platform for artificial intelligence (AI) training in Beijing on December 19, 2023. Photo: Handout>
Moore was founded in 2020 by James Zhang Jianzhong, along with several former senior graphics processing unit (GPU) engineers from Nvidia. Zhang, who worked for 14 years at Nvidia, chairs Moore's board.
In its early stages, the company's GPU were primarily used for visual displays in games and other applications. Later, the company shifted its focus to AI accelerator chips designed for the inference and training of large language models.
The prospectus shows that in the first half of this year, Moore's revenue reached about 70 million yuan, already exceeding its total revenue for the previous year, though the company remains unprofitable.
The company said it expected to achieve consolidated profitability as early as 2027. In comparison, Cambricon, which focuses on specialised AI chips, reported revenue of about 2.9 billion yuan in the first half of the year and is expected to record its first annual net profit since listing this year.
In 2023, the US government added Moore to its Entity List, a designation that restricted the Chinese company from gaining access to US technology and materials. In its IPO prospectus, Moore said that it had adjusted its supply chain strategy in response to geopolitical changes.
Moore's dazzling debut in Shanghai was a stark contrast with Guangdong Tianyu Semiconductor, which fell 34 per cent to HK$38, from its IPO price of HK$58, during its trading debut in Hong Kong on the same day. Shares of Tianyu, the largest producer of silicon carbide epitaxial wafers, were 60 times overbought.