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Shanghai-based synthetic intelligence chip start-up MetaX has stepped into the highlight after successful approval final week from Shanghai’s trade to listing on the town’s Nasdaq-style Star Market, underscoring each China’s accelerating AI funding and its potential to problem US chip large Nvidia.
Recognized in Chinese language as Muxi, MetaX was based in 2020 by three veterans of US chipmaker Superior Micro Gadgets (AMD) – chairman Chen Weiliang and co-chief know-how officers Peng Li and Yang Jian. The corporate runs analysis and growth centres throughout Beijing, Nanjing, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan and Changsha.
Whereas MetaX has cleared a key regulatory hurdle by passing the trade’s listening to, it nonetheless requires remaining approval from the China Securities Regulatory Fee earlier than it will probably proceed to an inventory.
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As a fabless chip designer, MetaX designs microchips however doesn’t manufacture them. The corporate produces N-series graphics processing models (GPUs) for AI inference, C-series chips for general-purpose computing and G-series processors for graphics rendering.
It has additionally constructed its personal computing platform, MXMACA, designed to be appropriate with mainstream GPU ecosystems comparable to Nvidia’s CUDA.
The agency’s newest flagship general-purpose processor, the MetaX C600, launched in July. It integrates HBM3e high-bandwidth reminiscence and helps FP8 precision, a format that enables sooner AI mannequin coaching with decrease energy use. That includes 144GB of reminiscence, the chip is described as “totally domestically produced”, with mass manufacturing focused for year-end.
Backed by its founders’ engineering pedigree and alignment with Beijing’s push for semiconductor self-reliance, MetaX has turn out to be a favorite amongst buyers. It has raised over 10 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion) throughout 9 funding rounds, reaching a valuation of 21 billion yuan in its newest spherical.
Its backers embrace distinguished enterprise capital corporations comparable to HongShan Capital Group (previously Sequoia China), Matrix Companions China, CTC Capital, ZhenFund and Lightspeed China Companions, together with state-linked buyers together with the Shanghai Science and Know-how Innovation Fund and the Pudong District Fund.
In response to its prospectus, MetaX goals to lift 3.9 billion yuan from the preliminary public providing (IPO) to fund initiatives together with the “growth and industrialisation of next-generation high-performance general-purpose GPUs” and “AI-inference GPU growth and industrialisation”.
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