On December 16, less than 24 hours before Muxi, dubbed the "second domestic GPU stock," was set to debut on the STAR Market, over 4,400 stocks in the A-share market fell, with the Shanghai Composite Index dropping below 3,800 points.
Anxiety spread among retail investors in Muxi’s stock forum. Some speculated that the plunge mirrored Moore Thread’s pre-IPO sell-off, where major investors liquidated holdings to raise funds for Muxi’s listing. Given Moore Thread’s precedent, market reactions were expected to be more volatile.
Eleven days earlier, Moore Thread, the "first domestic GPU stock," shattered A-share records under the full registration system. Its shares surged 425.46% on the first trading day, closing at 600.5 yuan per share and reaching a market cap of 282.3 billion yuan. Investors who sold at the peak could pocket 280,000 yuan per lot. However, subsequent price corrections left latecomers with steep losses.
Would Muxi offer a second chance for those who missed Moore Thread?
On December 17, Muxi listed on the STAR Market at 104.66 yuan per share, the second-highest IPO price this year after Moore Thread’s 114.28 yuan. It opened 568% higher at 700 yuan, valuing the company at 280 billion yuan. Early investors, including those who secured shares via lottery, gained nearly 300,000 yuan per lot, while some reaped billions overnight.
**Who Shared the Billion-Yuan Feast?** "Miss Cambricon? Chase Moore Thread’s pre-IPO shares"—this half-joking, half-serious sentiment reflected the frenzy over domestic AI chips. Institutional investors revealed that securing pre-IPO funding for top AI chip firms was fiercely competitive. One investor allocated only 20 million yuan out of a planned 200 million.
Though often compared to Moore Thread, Muxi remained more low-profile. Founded in September 2020, the Shanghai-based AI chipmaker focuses on cloud computing and filed for a STAR Market IPO on June 30 this year, listing just 170 days later.
Pre-IPO, Muxi completed eight funding rounds. Founder Chen Weiliang holds 22.94% post-IPO (20.63% diluted). Backers include state-owned funds (e.g., Shanghai科创 Fund, Pudong Capital), top VCs (e.g., Sequoia China, Matrix Partners), and industrial investors (e.g., China Mobile Fund, JD.com).
Notably, star investor Ge Weidong, chairman of Shanghai Chaos Investment, first invested in July 2022 and later increased stakes in February and March 2025, securing 6.73% equity. Post-listing, his holdings surged to ~18.844 billion yuan, yielding over 10 billion yuan in profit.
Lock-up periods for early investors (e.g., Sequoia, Matrix, Ge Weidong) range from one to three years. As some near expiration, potential sell-offs loom.
Muxi raised 4.197 billion yuan by issuing 40.1 million shares, with 8.02 million allocated to strategic investors, including employee incentives. About 730 of 870 staff joined the持股 plan, averaging 8,060 shares per person. Other strategic investors (e.g., Huatai Securities, China Telecom) face one- to two-year lock-ups.
Retail participation was scant, with a 0.033489% lottery win rate—lower than Moore Thread’s. Limited float suggests heightened volatility.
**Divergent Paths of Twin Stars** While both target GPUs, Muxi and Moore Thread differ. Moore Thread, led by ex-NVIDIA executive Zhang Jianzhong, pursues a "full-function GPU" strategy spanning graphics and AI, akin to NVIDIA’s broad market approach.
Muxi’s AMD-rooted team emphasizes engineering and architecture. Founder Chen Weiliang (ex-AMD senior director), CTO Yang Jian (AMD’s first China-born scientist), and executive Peng Li (AMD’s first female Chinese scientist) steer its data-center-focused, fully self-developed GPUs.
Financially, Muxi’s revenue jumped from 426,400 yuan (2022) to 743 million yuan (2024), surpassing Moore Thread’s 438 million yuan. Its GPUs shipped over 25,000 units, deployed in national AI platforms.
Moore Thread’s revenue grew from 46 million yuan (2022) to 438 million yuan (2024), but R&D costs (1.116 billion, 1.334 billion, 1.359 billion yuan annually) outpaced Muxi’s 901 million yuan (2024). Both firms funnel funds into next-gen chips: Moore Thread doubles down on graphics+AI, while Muxi develops C600/C700 GPUs and Nx推理 chips, targeting H100-level performance by 2026.
Despite revenue growth, losses persist. Muxi’s net losses widened from 777 million yuan (2022) to 1.409 billion yuan (2024), with Q1 2025 losing 233 million yuan. It forecasts 2025 revenue of 1.5–1.98 billion yuan (+101.86–166.46% YoY) and narrowed losses (763–527 million yuan), eyeing breakeven by 2026.
**No Regrets for Those Who Missed Out** For domestic AI chipmakers, capital injections fuel growth, but the real test lies in challenging NVIDIA’s dominance.
Some analysts caution that recent stock surges reflect market hype, not fundamentals. Moore Thread’s 285x price-to-sales ratio (vs. Cambricon’s 88x) seems unsustainable, given comparable growth prospects. Limited float exacerbates volatility.
One investor who skipped Muxi’s pre-IPO round cited concerns over manufacturing autonomy, not short-term gains. Meanwhile, Moore Thread’s 75 billion yuan cash-management plan triggered a 100 billion yuan市值 drop. At press time, it ranked third on the STAR Market (338.42 billion yuan), while Muxi (280 billion yuan) trailed closely.
*(This article does not constitute investment advice.)*
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