Chinese GPU champion lists on the STAR Market, another major addition to the city’s growing cluster of homegrown AI chipmakers.
By Chen Mei
Enflame Technology (688801.SH), one of China’s four leading domestic GPU makers, made its debut on Shanghai’s STAR Market on Friday, in another landmark listing for the country’s AI chip industry.
The company priced its shares at 142.18 yuan. Its stock surged 196% at the open to 420 yuan, pushing its market value above 180 billion yuan ($26.8 billion).
Founded in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang technology hub, Enflame was built by two semiconductor veterans, Zhao Lidong and Zhang Yalin, former colleagues at AMD. Zhao spent more than 20 years in Silicon Valley before returning to China, where he and Zhang founded the company in 2018.
Their ambition was to tackle one of the most technically demanding areas of China’s semiconductor industry: AI training chips.
Taking on the hardest part of AI computing
When Enflame was founded, many domestic chipmakers were focusing on inference chips, which presented a lower technical barrier. Zhao instead chose to target AI training chips for data centers, arguing that the market was still relatively open in China and would reward technological capability rather than price competition.
Both founders had previously led large-scale, high-performance chip development at AMD, giving them experience from architecture and design through to mass production.
That experience helped Enflame move quickly. Just 18 months after its founding, it launched its first cloud AI training chip, Suisi 1.0, and accelerator card, Yunsui T10.
The company has since expanded from training to inference and from chips into accelerator cards, computing clusters and software. It now offers AI chips, accelerator cards, intelligent computing systems and its TopsRider full-stack software platform.
AI accelerator cards and modules remain the core business. They generated 856 million yuan in 2025, accounting for 86.83% of revenue from principal operations, while intelligent computing systems and clusters contributed 128 million yuan, or 13%.
The company reported revenue of 1.12 billion yuan in the first half of 2026.
Patient capital
Enflame’s rise owes much to patient state capital. Less than a month after incorporation, Shanghai Sci-Tech Group — under Shanghai State Investment — made a seed-round investment, a decision that preceded market consensus on domestic chip substitution by eight years. Shanghai International Group later added capital through Guoxin Venture, Guofang Innovation, and Jinshan Investment. In December 2024, Shanghai State Investment, via its integrated circuit fund, co-led a round with Tencent.
Tencent (0700.HK) has been the most prominent industrial backer, leading a 340 million yuan Pre-A round just five months after Enflame’s founding — a record for chip-sector financing that year — and following on in every subsequent round from Series A through E. Tencent now holds 20.26%, making it the largest external institutional shareholder. Tencent Investment managing director Yao Leiwen sits on Enflame’s board. Other investors include Redpoint China, Wuyuefeng Capital, CPE, CICC Capital, Primavera, Yunhe Capital, and Haisong Capital.
Shanghai’s semiconductor advantage
Enflame is the latest addition to a growing group of Shanghai-based chipmakers reaching public markets.
Biren Technology (6082.HK) listed in Hong Kong earlier this year, followed by Iluvatar CoreX Semiconductor (9903.HK). MetaX (688802.SH) listed on the STAR Market, with its shares surging almost sevenfold on the first day.
Shanghai’s semiconductor strength is underpinned by an industrial ecosystem built over more than two decades. From Zhangjiang and Lingang to Caohejing and Jinqiao, the city has developed a supply chain covering chip design, manufacturing, packaging and testing, equipment and materials.
One entrepreneur noted that a chip-design company in Zhangjiang can find almost every upstream and downstream partner it needs within a five-kilometer radius, from EDA tools and IP licensing to foundries, packaging and testing companies and end customers.
The city also has a deep pool of state-backed capital. In the first half of this year, Shanghai International Group managed 37 funds with committed capital of nearly 300 billion yuan. Cumulative investment in the integrated-circuit industry exceeded 170 billion yuan, covering more than 500 companies.
In August alone, the city’s three pioneering-industry “mother” funds shortlisted 13 sub-funds.
The role of that capital is evolving, with Shanghai International Group chairman Yuan Guohua arguing that investors of patient capital must not only “invest early, invest in small companies and invest in hard technology”, but also support major projects requiring large amounts of capital and long development cycles.
For Shanghai, Enflame’s IPO is therefore more than a single company’s market debut. It is another sign that the city’s semiconductor ecosystem is beginning to produce companies capable of competing in China’s rapidly expanding AI computing market.
Source:
chinaventure.com.cn
