Visitors look at chip products of Enflame Technology at the 2026 World AI Conference in Shanghai on July 18, 2026. Photo: VCG

Enflame Technology, one of China's leading cloud graphics processing unit (GPU) makers, listed on the STAR Market, completing the lineup of China's four major artificial intelligence (AI) GPU computing chip companies - known as the "four little dragons" - on the capital market. The group includes Moore Threads, MetaX and Biren.

Industry observers said that the listings signaled that competition in China's domestic AI GPU chip sector will focus on systematic capabilities - large-scale delivery for major computing clusters, full-stack hardware-software efficiency, rapid product iteration, and building exclusive advantages in specific industries and scenarios.

Enflame's IPO was priced at 142.18 yuan ($21.2) per share, with 43.04 million shares issued. The company raised a total of 6.119 billion yuan through the IPO, giving it a market valuation of 61.19 billion yuan. Proceeds will be invested in the research, development and industrialization of its fifth- and sixth-generation AI chips, according to the company's IPO prospectus.

Founded eight years ago, Enflame is one of China's leading cloud GPU makers focused on independent R&D of cloud AI chips. It has iterated four generations of architecture and launched five cloud AI chips, building a complete product system covering AI chips, accelerator cards and modules, intelligent computing clusters, and supporting software platforms.

Zhao Lidong, chairman of Enflame Technology, told the STAR Market Daily that the company's first-generation products are still used in a thousand-GPU cards cluster at Zhejiang Lab for scientific computing. The second-generation chips have been shipped in bulk to Tencent, totaling about 30,000 units. The third generation, currently in mass production, has reached cumulative shipments of 160,000 units, while the upcoming fourth generation is expected to see further growth of sales.

In terms of financial results, Enflame's revenue reached 301 million yuan in 2023, 722 million yuan in 2024, and 990 million yuan in 2025, representing a three-year compound annual growth rate of 81.32 percent. In the first half of 2026, business revenue hit 1.12 billion yuan. The company expects revenue for the first nine months of 2026 to range between 2.3 billion and 3 billion yuan, up 325.78 to 455.36 percent year-on-year.

"Against the backdrop of a rising AI computing power supply-demand gap at home and rigid demand for localization, the 'four little dragons' have entered a high-growth phase, although many of the manufacturers remain in the red," Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Wang said that future competition among the four manufacturers will be fierce: large-scale delivery capability to support major intelligent computing clusters, efficiency of full-stack hardware-software adaptation, annual product iteration speed, and the ability to build exclusive advantages in specific industries and computing scenarios.

"Only companies that can connect R&D investment, product performance, software ecosystem and customer orders into a continuously profitable commercial chain can build a firm foothold in the industry," Yang Delong, chief economist at Shenzhen-based First Seafront Fund, told the Global Times on Sunday.