Real Test for China's 'Four Little GPU Tigers' Has yet to Come

By Sherry Qin

Shares of Shanghai Enflame Technology more than doubled on their trading debut. But the real test for the Chinese company, along with three other so-called "little GPU tigers," has yet to come.

Enflame's listing follows last year's Shanghai debuts for Moore Threads and MetaX Integrated Circuits, as well as Shanghai Biren Technology, which listed in Hong Kong early this year.

Dubbed the "little tigers" of China's graphics processing units industry, the four firms represent part of Beijing's push to end reliance on foreign technology and nurture a "homegrown Nvidia."

But neither Enflame nor its fellow GPU makers have yet to turn a sustainable profit, creating an overhang for investors.

U.S. export controls and Chinese government mandates urging local tech companies to use domestic alternatives have boosted revenue for companies like Enflame, but its earnings have been dragged into the red by high research-and-development costs.

Moore and Biren are in the same camp, though their losses narrowed sharply in the first half of the year. MetaX swung to a profit for the period, but largely due to a fair-value gain it said wasn't sustainable.

Enflame expects to break even or turn a profit this year or the next, depending on revenue and margins.

A look at the 'little tigers' post-IPO performances suggests that investors aren't convinced about the GPU startups' prospects.

Shares of Moore shed over 30% this week after its first major lock-up expiration on Monday, bringing their year-to-date loss to 40%.

MetaX faces the same test next week, and has slid over 25% this week as investors unloaded their shares after seeing Moore's tumble. The stock is down 19% so far this year.

Biren's shares have been more resilient, having nearly doubled its listing price.

Analysts say these minnows of China's AI-chip industry have more to prove to close the performance gap to local leaders, suggesting an even longer way to go to match Western firms.

The "four tigers" are still in the third tier of China's AI chip vendor pecking order while Huawei Technologies takes the lead in terms of market presence and influence, according to Deutsche Bank analysts.

Still, there is plenty of scope to rise up the ranks.

Goldman Sachs analysts estimate that China needs 54 million local AI chips to meet training and inference demand in 2030--an astronomical leap from the 1.6 million China-made chips shipped in 2025.

That huge market potential will "bring healthy competition through 2030," Goldman said.

Write to Sherry Qin at sherry.qin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 11, 2026 01:45 ET (05:45 GMT)