China's local GPU sector has hit a significant milestone as MetaX (沐曦股份) became the first among the "four local GPU dragons" to achieve a profitable half-year result. The company's semi-annual report for 2026, released on the evening of August 30, shows net profit attributable to shareholders of 612 million yuan, swinging from a loss in the year-earlier period.
The other three members of the group—Moore Threads, Biren Technology, and Enflame Technology—all remained in the red during the first half of 2026. As of the August 28 market close, MetaX shares traded at 674.90 yuan apiece, giving the company a total market value of 270 billion yuan.
Second-quarter earnings surge more than tenfold year-on-year
MetaX listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board (STAR Market) on December 17, 2025, recording a net loss of 186 million yuan for the first six months of the prior year. The 612 million yuan profit for the 2026 first half marks its first profitable semi-annual period since going public.
The turnaround was largely driven by a sharp improvement in profitability during the second quarter of 2026. After posting net losses of 98.84 million yuan in the first quarter, MetaX generated net profit of 514 million yuan in the second quarter—a year-on-year surge of 1,001.71%.
Revenue growth was the primary driver, with first-half revenue climbing 44.67% year-on-year to 1.324 billion yuan, supported by growing customer acceptance and sustained purchasing of its products as GPU shipments increased significantly. MetaX focuses on developing and selling full-stack GPU products for AI training and inference, general-purpose computing including scientific computing, and graphics rendering, while also providing supporting software stacks and computing platforms around its GPU chips. During the period, the company leveraged its fully self-developed GPU chips and its software-hardware ecosystem advantages to achieve large-scale deployment across intelligent computing centers, telecom operators, finance, energy, and other enterprise scenarios.
Local GPU industry enters a period of scale-up opportunity
MetaX's achievement as the first of the "four local GPU dragons" to post a half-year profit is expected to boost confidence in China's domestic GPU sector. The GPU industry is marked by high capital and technology intensity, along with significant economies of scale, making profitability challenging for industry participants.
For the first half of 2026, Moore Threads reported a net loss of 11.56 million yuan, Enflame Technology posted a net loss of 632 million yuan, and Biren Technology recorded an adjusted loss of 337 million yuan under non-IFRS measures. Sustained high-intensity R&D investment is a key reason for these losses. Enflame Technology, for instance, has experienced continued losses because its revenue and gross profit scale have yet to cover period expenses led by R&D costs. From 2023 to 2025, Enflame Technology's R&D expenses stood at 1.229 billion yuan, 1.312 billion yuan, and 1.135 billion yuan, representing 408.01%, 181.66%, and 114.63% of revenue, respectively.
Still, revenue across all four companies has shown steady growth, with losses narrowing rapidly. Moore Threads saw revenue climb from 124 million yuan in 2023 to 438 million yuan in 2024 and 1.506 billion yuan in 2025, while net losses improved from -1.703 billion yuan to -1.618 billion yuan and -1.001 billion yuan over the same periods. In the first half of 2026, Moore Threads generated revenue of 1.736 billion yuan, up 147.42% year-on-year, with a net loss of just 11.56 million yuan compared with a 271 million yuan loss in the same period of 2025. The company attributed the improvement to the booming AI industry, strong market demand for full-featured GPUs, and accelerated commercialization of its Kua'e intelligent computing cluster, which have driven product recognition and stable supply.
Since the start of 2026, the global AI industry has entered a new phase of large-scale deployment and application expansion. China's "AI+" initiative has been deeply empowering the real economy, fueling explosive demand for high-performance, highly reliable intelligent computing power. Against the backdrop of industry consensus on autonomous control of computing infrastructure and high-quality development, Moore Threads provides computing acceleration platforms for AI, digital twins, scientific computing, and other high-performance computing areas based on its self-developed full-featured GPUs.
Third-party data indicates that the global market for AI accelerator chips in data centers is projected to grow from $9.17 billion in 2021 to $730 billion by 2030, with the GPU portion expanding from $6.67 billion to $600 billion over the same period. In 2025, China's AI chip market was valued at 303.9 billion yuan, with expectations to approach 1.6 trillion yuan by 2030, representing a compound annual growth rate of 38.6% from 2026 to 2030.
Local GPU companies enter a concentrated IPO wave
MetaX's first profitable half-year since listing provides preliminary evidence that domestic GPU companies can achieve commercial closed-loop capability, offering confidence for peer companies pursuing public listings. Since 2025, the "four local GPU dragons" have moved aggressively into the capital markets. In December 2025, Moore Threads and MetaX both listed on the STAR Market, and Biren Technology went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in January 2026. Now, Enflame Technology is preparing for a STAR Market listing, while both MetaX and Moore Threads are planning Hong Kong IPOs to advance their globalization strategies.
The challenge lies in the fact that several listed local GPU companies remain unprofitable. While primary market pricing tends to focus on technology roadmaps, localization prospects, and future growth potential, secondary markets place greater emphasis on order flow, revenue, gross margins, customer structure, and cash flow. Listed and prospective GPU companies must therefore demonstrate to the market their capacity to close the commercial loop. For Enflame Technology, industrialization is a recurring theme in its proposed IPO fundraising projects, including research, development, and industrialization programs based on its fifth- and sixth-generation AI chip series. According to its prospectus, these projects are designed to enhance product performance and hardware design capabilities, improve the software ecosystem, and secure the supply chain, thereby supporting the company's long-term development.
Disclaimer: This news is reproduced from a cooperating media outlet. The publication of this article is for informational purposes only and does not imply endorsement of the views expressed or confirmation of its content. The article is for reference only and does not constitute investment advice. Investors should bear the risks associated with their own decisions.
Comments