Shares in a Chinese semiconductor firm founded by an Nvidia alum surged in their opening day of trading, highlighting demand in the world’s second-biggest economy for an alternative to US chipmakers.
Moore Threads stocks rose more than fivefold on the Shanghai stock exchange. The firm is among a handful that are at the core of Beijing’s ambitions of weaning itself off American hardware, and particularly cutting-edge chips, the design and manufacture of which are dominated by companies based in the US and allied nations.
Chinese fears of being cut off in the midst of a race to build advanced AI systems are not unfounded. Bipartisan legislation introduced in Washington this week would seek to delay Nvidia from selling advanced chips to China.
