Shanghai Enflame Technology, a Chinese AI chipmaker backed by Tencent, soared nearly 180% after launching on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Friday.
The company has raised around 6.12 billion yuan ($912.5 million) in its initial public offering (IPO), offering 43.04 million shares (10% of enlarged share capital) at a price of 142.18 yuan ($21.2) per share. Strategic buyers included vehicles of Tencent, Xiaomi, and GigaDevice, according to its filing with the SSE.
Enflame's stock opened at a significantly higher price of 410 yuan and rose to a high of 475 yuan. The stock later fell and closed at 397 yuan, which represents a 179.2% price increase from its IPO price.
This made Enflame (688801) the the day's biggest gainer on SSE's hard-tech and science-focused board STAR Market. It was the fourth most-traded stock of the day on STAR Market as well, recording nearly 5.65 billion yuan ($842.5 million) in volume on Friday.
Tencent is Enflame's largest institutional shareholder, and the company's largest customers before the listing, according to its prospectus. The tech conglomerate owns a 17.95% stake in the company post-IPO, while around 83.8% of Enflame's 2025 revenue came from Tencent-linked sales.
Enflame plans to use the proceeds to develop its fifth- and sixth-generation AI chips, along with supporting software systems and hardware clusters, the prospectus said.
Meanwhile, the company's prospectus shows that Enflame has yet to record a profitable year, although its net loss has narrowed to 1.16 billion yuan ($173 million) from 1.51 billion yuan in 2024. Revenue jumped 37% last year to 990.2 million yuan.
According to Reuters, Enflame is one of the AI chip startups touted as the "four little GPU dragons" in China, alongside Moore Threads, MetaX, and Biren Technology. Its IPO reportedly comes at a time when Beijing is promoting domestic alternatives to U.S. suppliers, such as Nvidia.