Tencent-backed Enflame IPO draws 6,109 times online demand

Chinese artificial intelligence chipmaker Shanghai Enflame Technology, backed by Tencent (0700), drew investor orders worth 6,109 times the shares available in the online portion of its Shanghai initial public offering, an exchange filing showed on Wednesday.

Investors are betting Beijing's push to develop domestic alternatives to US chip suppliers such as Nvidia will create opportunities for Chinese AI chipmakers, after President Donald Trump tightened curbs on exports of advanced chips and chipmaking equipment to China.

In response to the excess demand, Enflame moved 3.4 million shares from the offline tranche to the online sale after receiving orders from more than 7 million online investor accounts, Wednesday's filing showed.

It said the final winning rate for online investors was 0.025 percent. The company will announce the results on Friday.

'FOUR LITTLE GPU DRAGONS'

Enflame is one of China's leading AI chip startups, referred to in Chinese financial circles as the "four little GPU dragons". The other three — Moore Threads Technology, MetaX Integrated Circuits and Shanghai Biren Technology (6082) — have already sold shares publicly over the last year.

Founded eight years ago, Enflame has yet to make a profit, but it has powerful backing from social media and gaming company Tencent, which is one of its major shareholders and its largest customer.

Enflame set its IPO price at 142.18 yuan per share and aims to raise about 6.1 billion yuan (HK$7.12 billion) by selling 43 million shares on Shanghai's tech-focused STAR Market.

It has said it plans to use the IPO proceeds to develop and produce its fifth- and sixth-generation AI chips and related software and hardware.

The company initially allocated 6.89 million shares, or 20 percent of the shares available after the strategic placement, to online investors, the filing showed.

The shift raised the online allocation to 10.33 million shares, or 30 percent of the post-strategic-placement offering, while the offline tranche received the remaining 70 percent, the filing showed.

Reuters

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