Moore Threads and the 4,000x subscription: China’s GPU hope electrifies the tech stock market

When a young company with an explicit history of US sanctions is oversubscribed over 4,000 times at its IPO, it is either pure speculation or a geopolitical wake-up call. In the case of Moore Threads, both are true. The Chinese GPU start-up, founded in 2020 and led by ex-Nvidia China boss James Zhang Jianzhong, not only triggered a capital market sensation with its IPO announcement on the Shanghai Star Market (China’s Nasdaq counterpart), but also sent a clear signal to Washington and Santa Clara: China is serious about tech sovereignty, and is tackling it.

On November 27, it became official: the subscription period for Moore Threads’ IPO ended with a rush that is rare even by Chinese standards. Over 4,000 times oversubscribed by private investors, a final allocation rate of a meagre 0.036% – anyone who wanted to get their hands on a share had to be very lucky (or connected). The issue price was 114.28 yuan, the valuation totaled around 53.7 billion yuan (around 7.5 billion US dollars). the company raised 8 billion yuan in capital, fresh money that is urgently needed as Moore Threads has yet to make a profit.

Growth without profit, a Chinese Nvidia?

With a turnover of 701.8 million yuan in the first half of 2025 alone and a net loss of 271 million yuan, Moore Threads remains a typical “growth play”: high growth, high expenditure, red figures. The loss is by no means unusual, as the company finances extensive R&D activities and inventory build-up for its GPU product lines. In four years, four generations of architecture have been launched (Sudi, Chunxiao, Quyuan, Pinghu), which is remarkable in a market where Western players need several years even for refresh cycles.

What’s more, Moore Threads has been on the infamous US “Entity List” since 2022, which makes it extremely difficult to import Western high-tech. Despite this, the company has not only managed to survive, but also to continue scaling up. The fact that the founding crew around James Zhang has an Nvidia background, including numerous ex-AMD engineers in the team, is more than just a PR bonus: It lends credibility and a technical foundation. Investors such as Tencent, ByteDance, GGV Capital and Sequoia China got on board early for good reason.

Technology as a government mandate

What is happening here is more than an IPO, it is an orchestrated part of China’s large-scale attempt to free itself from Western semiconductor dependence. Moore Threads is a poster child for the new strategy: aggressive in-house development instead of mere replication. The fact that the IPO approval was waved through in just 88 days also shows how political priorities can accelerate economic processes. The message is clear: anyone who wants to have a say in GPU architectures will get backing as long as they serve the big goal: technological independence.

Market dynamics: pull effect on Chinese GPU competition

The emergence of Moore Threads as a serious “local Nvidia” is also having an impact on other Chinese semiconductor companies. MetaX, Biren Technology and Cambricon Technologies are now likely to accelerate their IPO plans. The latter has already doubled its market capitalization in 2025, not by chance but as a result of increased investor interest in everything that combines AI, chips and “Made in China”.

A double-edged sword

Despite all the euphoria, the risks should not be ignored. Moore Threads is far from being in the profit zone. The technological gap to Nvidia remains real, especially in the high-end GPU segment. Access to modern manufacturing processes (e.g. below 7 nm) is also severely restricted by US export controls. TSMC and ASML remain on the outside, a problem that cannot be solved immediately, even with money. And finally, the geopolitical risk remains: Moore Threads is and remains a strategic target of Western export regulations, with all the uncertainties that entails.

Conclusion

Moore Threads is a symbol of China’s ambitions to conquer the GPU market, of the new relationship between the capital market and technopolitics, and of the fragility of global chip supply chains. The hype surrounding the IPO is justified, but not without shadows. Anyone investing here is not only buying shares, but also a piece of the geopolitical race, with an open outcome.

Source: Scmp