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(Sharecast News) - MetaX Integrated Circuits surged nearly 700% in its Shanghai trading debut on Wednesday, marking one of the most explosive first-day performances for a major Chinese initial public offering in recent years and underscoring investor enthusiasm for domestic artificial intelligence chipmakers amid Beijing's push for technological self-sufficiency.
Shares of the GPU designer closed at about CNY 830, up roughly 693% from the IPO price of CNY 104.66, after rising as much as 755% intraday.
The company raised around CNY 4.2bn, or nearly $600m, in the offering, which was more than 4,000 times oversubscribed by retail investors.
The jump lifted MetaX's market capitalisation above CNY 300bn, placing it broadly on par with recently listed rival Moore Threads, whose shares also surged sharply following its debut earlier this month.
Founded in 2020 by former AMD executives, MetaX designs graphics processing units for artificial intelligence workloads, gaming and visualisation.
The company controls about 1% of China's AI chip market and expected revenue to more than double this year as demand accelerates for locally produced alternatives to US suppliers such as Nvidia and AMD, whose most advanced chips face export restrictions to China.
MetaX remained loss-making due to heavy research and development spending but has said it could reach break-even as early as next year.
The strong debut reflected broader momentum behind China's domestic semiconductor sector, as policymakers fast-track IPO approvals to help firms raise capital and narrow the technology gap with US rivals.
IPO fundraising in China rose sharply this year, with a significant share flowing into technology and semiconductor companies, while several other AI chipmakers are lining up listings in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
However, some fund managers have cautioned that valuations appear stretched and warned of speculative froth in share prices.
MetaX was valued at more than 50 times its 2024 sales at the IPO, well above global peers, even as it acknowledged in its prospectus that its technology still lagged leading US competitors and that it faced intense competition from domestic rivals including Moore Threads, Huawei-backed HiSilicon and Alibaba's T-Head.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.