Nvidia's Would-Be China Replacement Just Soared More Than 200% on Debut

Enflame stock soared more than 200% in its Shanghai trading debut on Friday. The listing completes the run of China’s four leading domestic AI chip startups.

The Tencent-backed company is building alternatives to Nvidia processors. It has yet to turn a profit.

Enflame Stock Jumps 200% as China’s AI Chip Startup Goes Public 

Enflame set its issue price at 142.18 yuan and opened at 410 yuan, a 188% gain, SCMP reported. The stock then climbed as high as 475 yuan, or 234% above the offer.

Its initial retail offering drew orders for more than 6,000 times the shares on hand. Enflame then shifted more stock toward that group.

Its three peers all surged on listing. MetaX rose nearly 700% in December, Moore Threads gained over 400%, and Biren added 76% in January. Memory maker CXMT drew a similar reaction on the same exchange in July.

However, those debut levels have not held. Moore Threads trades about 42% down since its debut, while MetaX is down roughly 35%, according to Google Finance data.

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Nvidia Still Owns the Market Enflame Wants

International chipmakers led by Nvidia held nearly 60% of China’s AI accelerator market in 2025, according to IDC data cited by CNBC.

US export controls have curbed Nvidia’s exports to China’s compute market. Beijing has also shown little appetite for importing advanced foreign chips.

Domestic silicon is starting to carry real workloads. Z.ai said its GLM-5.3-Flash model runs entirely on China-made chips. Analysts believe the company used a mix of Huawei processors alongside parts from Enflame and other local suppliers.

Meanwhile, Enflame reported 990 million yuan, or about $147 million, in revenue for 2025. That was up from 722 million yuan a year earlier.

Proceeds will fund its fifth- and sixth-generation processors. The company wants those chips to match high-end products from international rivals. Goldman Sachs expects China’s semiconductor capital spending to reach $82 billion by 2030. 

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