China’s Nvidia-like Moore Threads set for trading debut after $1.1 billion IPO

SHANGHAI/BEIJING, Dec 5 (Reuters) – Moore Threads Technology Co, dubbed by analysts as “China’s Nvidia“, is expected to make a strong market debut in Shanghai on Friday, ​on bets that the U.S.-blacklisted startup will benefit from Beijing’s drive to ‌boost domestic chip manufacturing.

Beijing has stepped up approval of initial public offerings by semiconductor firms in a push ‌towards tech self-sufficiency, with Washington restricting advanced chip exports to China in a bid to curb its development of AI and military capabilities.

Moore Threads, which makes graphics processing units (GPUs) for artificial intelligence computing, could become a key force in accelerating China’s efforts to replace foreign chips with local ⁠technology, brokerage Sinolink Securities said ‌in a report initiating coverage with a “buy” rating on the stock.

“The era of AI is driving rapid expansion in GPU demand,” Sinolink ‍Securities analyst Fan Zhiyuan said, setting a target price of 182.25 yuan for the stock, nearly 60% higher than the IPO price.

The company last week raised nearly 8 billion yuan ($1.13 billion) selling shares at ​114.28 yuan apiece.

Its performance on Shanghai’s STAR Market will be closely watched amid worries ‌about stretched tech valuations. A strong debut for the Beijing-based company, founded in 2020 by former Nvidia China executive Zhang Jianzhong, would bode well for a growing number of homegrown semiconductor firms eyeing listings riding on China’s efforts to reduce reliance on foreign chip suppliers.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange has accepted a slew of IPO applications this year from ⁠chipmakers including MetaX Integrated Circuits (Shanghai), SJ Semiconductor and ​Xiamen UX IC.

Chinese tech giants including Huawei, Alibaba and ​Baidu have also stepped up investments in AI chip development, as China restricted Nvidia’s chip sales in the country.

Moore Threads, whose IPO was priced at ‍123 times 2024 sales, ⁠expects 2025 sales to jump as much as 242% to 1.5 billion yuan, as it joins several other Chinese start-ups seeking to fill Nvidia’s void.

China’s SSE ⁠STAR Chip Index index currently trades at 118 times earnings, compared with a multiple of 12 for ‌the Shanghai Composite Index.

($1 = 7.0714 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Shanghai and Beijing Newsroom; ‌Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Sonali Paul)