Chinese Chip Boom Creates Billionaires Despite Losses Arabian Post

2026-09-11 02:16:41

(MENAFN- The Arabian Post) clearfix">Shanghai Enflame Technology nearly tripled in value on its Shanghai trading debut on Friday, extending a wave of listings that has turned founders of loss-making Chinese artificial-intelligence chipmakers into billionaires as investors bet heavily on domestic alternatives to Nvidia.

Enflame's shares closed 179 per cent above their initial public offering price on the STAR Market, lifting the company's market value to about 171 billion yuan from 61.2 billion yuan at the offer price. The Tencent-backed company raised 6.12 billion yuan by selling 43.04 million new shares at 142.18 yuan each.

The surge came despite Enflame having never reported an annual profit since its establishment in 2018. Its 2025 revenue reached 990.2 million yuan while its net loss narrowed to about 1.2 billion yuan. The company has forecast revenue of 2.3 billion yuan to 3 billion yuan for the first nine months of 2026, alongside a net loss of 700 million yuan to 860 million yuan.

<p>Revenue has expanded quickly from 301 million yuan in 2023 and about 722 million yuan in 2024, but losses have remained substantial as the company spends heavily on research and product development. Enflame recorded net losses of about 1.67 billion yuan in 2023 and 1.51 billion yuan in 2024 before narrowing the deficit last year, underscoring how far commercial growth has run ahead of earnings for the company.</p><p>Enflame said in its prospectus that it expects to reach break-even or profitability in 2026 or 2027. It plans to direct much of the IPO proceeds towards development and industrialisation of fifth- and sixth-generation artificial-intelligence chips, software and large-scale computing systems.</p>See also  Anak Krakatau ash grounds Jakarta, Lampung flights <p>The company's rapid revaluation also highlights the unusual economics of China's artificial-intelligence chip boom. Investors have rewarded several young semiconductor groups whose sales are expanding quickly but whose research spending remains heavy and earnings records are limited or negative.</p><p>Moore Threads Technology, another Shanghai-listed graphics processor developer, created several billionaires after its market debut in December 2025, when its shares rose more than fourfold. Founder and chairman Zhang Jianzhong, a former head of Nvidia's China operations, was valued at several billion dollars after the listing, while co-founders Zhang Yubo and Wang Dong also crossed the billionaire threshold based on their holdings.</p><p>MetaX Integrated Circuits produced a similar outcome after its Shanghai flotation. Chairman and chief executive Chen Weiliang, who previously worked at Advanced Micro Devices, became a billionaire as investors pushed the company's valuation sharply higher despite continuing operating losses. Early investor Ge Weidong also joined the billionaire ranks through his stake.</p><p>The valuations reflect expectations that domestic chipmakers will capture a larger share of China's fast-growing demand for artificial-intelligence computing as access to the most advanced US-designed processors remains constrained. Domestic producers are competing to supply cloud companies, data centres and developers running large language models, recommendation engines and other computing-intensive services.</p><p>Enflame's commercial position, however, remains unusually concentrated. Tencent is its largest shareholder, with a 17.95 per cent stake after the offering, and sales linked to the technology group accounted for 83.79 per cent of Enflame's 2025 revenue. The concentration gives Enflame a major anchor customer but also leaves its growth closely tied to purchasing decisions by one group.</p>See also  Forest City clarifies 5% fintech tax incentive <p>The company employed about 860 people as of September 2025, according to disclosures compiled from its listing materials. Founded by former AMD executives Zhao Lidong and Zhang Yalin, Enflame develops accelerator chips, add-on cards, computing systems and software for artificial-intelligence training and inference in data centres.</p><p>Only 17.9 million shares, equivalent to 4.16 per cent of Enflame's enlarged share capital, were freely tradable at the start of trading, limiting the initial public float and potentially amplifying price swings. The retail portion of the offering attracted thousands of times more demand than the shares available.</p><div class='code-block code-block-1'><h2></h2></div>

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Chinese Chip Boom Creates Billionaires Despite Losses Arabian Post

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