China’s domestic GPU champion Moore Threads draws intense retail demand after its STAR Market listing, with margin borrowing, policy endorsements and sharp price swings showing how investors value the next wave of AI infrastructure.
Friday’s trading in Moore Threads keeps China’s domestic AI hardware theme at the centre of risk appetite, and Abishai Financial Asia Pte. Ltd. treats the action as a real-time read on how quickly policy priorities filter into equity pricing. The shares end the session 1.73% above the prior close at $90.5, leaving the company valued at about $42.6 billion at Friday’s close.
Market attention sharpens after a recent visit by Beijing mayor Yin Yong, reinforcing the political importance of home-grown compute capacity. The latest Beijing Artificial Intelligence Industry White Paper counts more than 2,500 AI companies and 183 registered large AI models in the city, while the digital economy expands 8.7% compared with the prior year in the most recent full-year reading.
The listing late in the previous quarter raises about $1.1 billion and ranks among the largest onshore initial public offerings over the preceding calendar year. Retail demand runs hot, with subscription orders during the offering exceeding available shares by about 2,750 times and roughly 4.82 million individual investors participating during the subscription window. Trading opens at $91 versus a $16 offer price, and the stock remains about 425% above that offer level as of Friday’s close.
Investors increasingly frame Moore Threads as a domestic alternative to Nvidia, even though the company sits several technology generations behind the US leader. For Daniel Coventry, Director of Private Equity at Abishai Financial Asia Pte. Ltd., the early pricing reads as “less a verdict on parity with Nvidia and more a referendum on how quickly domestic compute capacity can be funded and scaled”, a distinction that matters as headlines compete with engineering realities.
Leverage adds urgency to that distinction. In Abishai Financial Asia’s monitoring of exchange data, margin financing reaches about $233.8 million by Friday’s close and turnover hits 9.27% of market capitalisation in the same session. Coventry describes the build-up as “a reminder that leverage can manufacture conviction on the way up and force discipline on the way down”, a dynamic that can amplify both rallies and reversals.
Price discovery remains volatile. The shares trade as high as about $131.7 after the debut before a pullback accelerates, and a company warning on heightened speculation triggers a 19% intraday slide during one of the most active sessions after listing. Even so, the stock still sits more than 600% above its offer price at Friday’s close.
Policy signals continue to shape expectations for the broader AI supply chain. Moore Threads clears the regulatory review in about four months, versus a typical STAR Market process of roughly 470 days over the preceding five years, and national measures include a dedicated AI industry investment fund of about $1.1 billion in the current policy cycle alongside an AI plus Manufacturing initiative focused on reliable technology supply chains. Coventry characterises the accelerated timetable as “a sentiment tailwind that fades quickly if delivery slips”.
Fundamentals now sit alongside momentum. The latest filings guide to full-year revenue of about $203 million to $212.8 million, up 231% to 247% versus the prior year, while projecting net losses of about $133 million to $148.4 million over the same full-year period and a loss reduction of 34.5% to 41.3% compared with the prior year. Investors also scrutinise capital deployment after clarification that up to $1.1 billion remains available for short-term cash management in the current plan. Abishai Financial Asia’s watchlist centres on “customer adoption, cash burn and independent performance validation”, in Coventry’s assessment, as the story shifts from first-week pricing to repeatable demand.
Abishai Financial Asia at a Glance
Abishai Financial Asia Pte. Ltd. (UEN: 201016239E) is a Singapore asset manager founded in 2010 that positions research at the centre of capital allocation.
Further information: https://abishai.com
Media contact: Peng Joon, p.joon@abishai.com
