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Author: Wang Manhua, Chen Mei
1572Double the online subscription multiple,88The fastest to pass the Tianke Innovation Board, the most expensive “100-yuan stock” in the year… As a series of numbers were refreshed, Moore Thread, known as “China’s Nvidia”, officially landed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board today.
On the market, Moore Thread opened at a high of 688 yuan/share, an increase of 502% from the issue price of 114.28 yuan/share.As of press time, the company’s market value is 280 billion yuan.
Looking back at Moore Thread’s financing process, the company has attracted capital attention since its inception and quickly became the “collective consensus” of the primary market——2020Two rounds of financing were completed in just three months after its establishment in 2016, and then steadily advanced at the pace of one round every year. The cumulative financing scale exceeded 10 billion yuan.IPOThe number of former shareholders is as high as86Bit.
As the earliest investor to enter the game, Peixian Qianyao’s initial investment of 1.9 million yuan has increased in value to approximately 11.898 billion yuan based on the latest market value of 280 billion yuan, with a return of more than an astonishing 6262 times.
Of course, the Moore Thread financing story is also accompanied by some regrets of missing out.At the beginning of this year, China Investment Network once wrote about an investor who was unable to raise funds in one day.1000Ten thousand yuan, thereby missing out on the investment opportunity in Moore Thread’s old stocks.
From the frenzied rush to raise funds in the early stages to the fierce competition for share before going public, the discussions surrounding Moore’s thread in the past five years have beencompetition for capital,Not only has it witnessed the rapid growth of China’s semiconductor industry, but it has once again confirmed a profound truth: on the road to breakthroughs in core technologies, the most expensive cost is often not money, but the opportunity cost of hesitation.
So, in the wave of hard technology investment, what characteristics does this company have that can transcend the cycle and become a core asset that capital is unwilling to let go of?What kind of industry judgment and value persistence are hidden behind these seemingly “risky bets”?
Read with these questions in mind and review “DomesticGPUHow was the “first stock” born?
“Debut from a high starting point”
The birth of Moore’s thread2020year, just in time for ChinaGPUThe field is booming. Players such as Suiyuan Technology and Biren Technology have appeared one after another. The enthusiasm of the capital market for the semiconductor field is also unprecedentedly high.
Although there are many opponents, the start of Moore Thread, which holds the title of “China’s Nvidia”, can still be described as “amazing”——3Completed two rounds of financing within months, less than 10 years old100The daily valuation exceeds10billion, setting a new industry record for “the fastest company to become a unicorn” that year.
The company’s first round of financing occurred in2020year9In September, the investors were “Pei County Qian Yao” and “Shenzhen Ming Hao”.
Regarding this investment, my colleague Yang Boyu once saidMentioned: Zhou Qi, one of the shareholders of Peixian Qianyao, has a deep connection with Colorful, an established graphics card manufacturer, and is an individual investor in its affiliated companies.And colorful as early as2000We have been cooperating with NVIDIA since2010It has become the core of NvidiaAICPartners.
There is another key detail in this round of financing: Shenzhen Minghao’s entry was made possible by Peixian Qianyao.As the earliest external investor, Peixian Qianyao obtained1Yuan/Preferential price for registered capital – based on pre-investment valuation1000Ten thousand yuan, investment190Ten thousand yuan.
Looking back now, this 1.9 million yuan “vote of confidence” has brought rich returns.The prospectus shows that before the listing, Peixian Qianyao still held 16.9987 million shares of Moore, with a shareholding ratio of 4.2494% (before the issuance).Based on the latest market value of RMB 280 billion before publication, the valuation of its shares is RMB 11.898 billion, which has increased 6,262 times.
If Moore Thread’s first round of financing still has the color of “support from acquaintances”, then the angel round of financing that followed is more in line with the standard narrative of a star project.
2020year12In September, Moore Thread completed angel round financing, with investors including Wuyuan Capital, Sequoia China, Famous Investment and Heertai and other leading institutions.Some investors recalled that when this round of financing was finalized, Moore Thread “didn’t even have a prototype.” What impressed the leading organizations was its impeccable team configuration.
Zhang Jianzhong, the founder of Moore Threads, was Huang Renxun’s former important “deputy”.2006Since the beginning of the year, he has become the global vice president and general manager of NVIDIA China, leading the team to establishGPUA complete ecosystem in China and build Greater China into the most important NVIDIA region in the worldGPUThe market can be said to have completely witnessedGPUIndustrial changes accelerated from graphics processing to neural networks.
The team behind him is equally star-studded—the core members are all fromNVIDIA,Microsoft,Intel,AMD,ARMand other top technology companies in the world, with average working experience of more than ten years per person.
“Moore Thread has the world’s top modernGPUArchitecture design team.”This is the evaluation from Zhou Kui, a partner of Sequoia Capital China Fund.Yunxiu Capital’s comments are more straightforward: “Moore Thread is one of the few truly world-class companies in China that can coverGPUA mature team with a complete structure of R&D, design, marketing, and service support.”
It can be said that the top team, top technology, and the right timing have jointly achieved a high starting point for Moore Thread.
“As long as we make the chip, the future will be limitless.”
With the pre-financing paving the way, Moore Threads has completely ignited the enthusiasm of the capital market in the subsequent two rounds of financing.
2021year2month, the company completedPre-AThe round of financing was jointly led by Shenzhen Venture Capital, Sequoia China, and GGV Capital, with participation from China Merchants Venture Capital, ByteDance, Pony.ai, Sunshine Fusion Capital, Ocean Pine Capital, Famous Investment, First Venture Capital, Wuyuan Capital, Harmonicare, and Minghao;
In the same year11In March, we also acquired funds from Shanghai Guosheng Capital, Wuyuan Capital, and Bohai Capital, a subsidiary of Bank of China International.Zhongsheng Fund,CCB International,Qianhai Fund of Funds,China Merchants Securitiesand the Hubei High-Quality Development Industry Fund etc.20billionAround of financing, staged two famous scenes of “large group buying” by more than ten institutions.
Sunshine Fusion Capital is exactly where2021At the beginning of the year, I participated in Moore’sPre-Around of financing.At that time, the organization had been deeply involved in the semiconductor track for two years.2018Starting from the second half of the year, they continued to trackAIIn the field of chips, it covered almost all leading targets at that time.2020After the National Day of 2016, Moore Thread, which was only three months old, came into view.
Zheng Yan, head of the technology track of Sunshine Fusion Capital, graduated from Tsinghua University in the field of electronic technology. He admitted that the valuation of Moore’s Thread was not low at the time, but it only took his team two months from contacting the project to completing the investment.
The “top team” remains one of the core anchors for making quick investment decisions.In his words, founder Zhang Jianzhong2006year4solstice2020year9Monthly appointmentNVIDIAThe global vice president and general manager of China can almost be said to have “single-handedly created China’sGPUEcology and Industrial Chain”.In addition, Ma Fengxiang, head of chip R&D, has rich tape-out experience and the company’s pragmatic approach of “prioritizing the speed and certainty of the first chip landing” also coincides with the team’s technical judgment.Although there were some doubts about the company’s technology development route in the market at that time, the team knew that for large start-up chip companies, the quick breakthrough of the first chip and the rapid iteration of subsequent research and development are the most critical.
“When we first came into contact with Moore’s threads, we formed a clear judgment: we were very interested in the top-notch products in the Moore’s thread industry.GPUWe are full of confidence in the ecology, industrial chain and sales capabilities. As long as we make the chip, the future is limitless.”Zheng Yan said.
Of course, in addition to technical strength, what impressed him was the high recognition of Zhang Jianzhong within the company.”In contact with the Moore Thread team, I found that all employees have a strong sense of identification and belonging to the company brand and the founder himself. Moore Thread has shown strong cohesion, and the employees are fully committed and highly motivated.”
Also inPre-AZhang Yuan (pseudonym), an investor who entered the game, recalled that his institution had some incidents during the investment process:LPQuestions were raised about the high valuation due to the company’s net profit performance, but the team was firmly optimistic about its prospects and believed the price was still within a reasonable acceptable range. They successfully convinced the employer, and ultimately the meeting was quickly concluded and the payment was made on time.
The market has rewarded these courageous investors.According to investors close to Moore Thread, inPre-AandAIn a round of financing, institutions that failed to disburse funds on time saw their valuations increase in the same round.
Subsequently, it was led by China Mobile Digital New Economy Industry Fund and Harmony Health Insurance.BIn this round of financing, its pre-money valuation has been pushed to225A high of 100 million yuan, compared withPre-ARound37Billion valuation jumped significantly.
Looking back on this investment four years ago, Zheng Yan said that from the perspective of company development, Moore Threads has continued to exceed his expectations.According to the initial plan, the company planned to launch one chip in one to one and a half years, and complete the implementation of three chips in four years. However, in actual progress, the research and development efficiency has been greatly improved: the first chip was delivered on time, and the iteration speed of the subsequent two chips was further accelerated, achieving leapfrog progress of “three chips in three years.”
What’s even more surprising is the quality of the product upon landing.2022At the end of the year, Moore Thread held an autumn conference and launched the industry’s first national trend graphics cardMTT S80, and metacomputing all-in-one computerMCCXand seriesGPUThe software stack and application tools broke the vicious cycle of “only showing off chips but not showing off applications” in the industry at that time.Subsequently, its self-developed graphics card2999Yuan pricing is launched on JD.com, becoming one of the few domestically able to achieve thisTo CgroundedAIChip company – Zheng Yan said that this means that ordinary gamers, investment institutions, competitors and even overseas users can obtain Moore Thread’s chip products, which demonstrates the team’s absolute confidence in technology.
During the post-investment follow-up, Zheng Yan’s team found that Moore Thread’s R&D nodes were accurately controlled to the point that “the deviation in the achievement time of key project R&D nodes is no more than one month.”What’s even more surprising isAIEarly implementation of functions: In the initial planning, the company plans to focus on graphics and image processing first, and then move into it later.AIfield, but actualAIThe functions were integrated into the product line one generation ahead of schedule, further broadening the market imagination.
The prospectus shows that as of2023In 2018, the company achieved hundreds of millions of yuan in revenue, verifying its commercial monetization capabilities.Among them,2023Annual Moore Thread Revenue1.24billion, compared to2022years0.46billion, a year-on-year increase169%.
“ChinaGPUThere is no darkest hour”
Looking back at the growth trajectory of Moore Thread, there is no shortage of dramatic turns.2023The year is a critical watershed for both companies and investors.
2023year10month17On Japan, the United States added Moore’s Thread to its Entity List, superimposing its new restrictions on the computing power density and bandwidth density of integrated circuits. Multiple pressures are directed at this Chinese company that is in a period of rapid growth.AIThe chip company has faced its most severe test since its establishment.
“Unforgettable.“investorAThis is how I described my feelings that day:“I was on a business trip in Xuzhou at the time. After the news came, I immediately kept talking on the phone in the hotel garden.In fact, not only Moore threads, the entire Chinese integrated circuit industry once fell into a certain degree of panic.——almost all headsAIChip companies all face the same dilemma: they must redesign their designs to obtain advanced manufacturing capacity; the financing environment in the primary market also froze almost overnight.“
As an early investor,AThere was also brief hesitation within the institution.However, in close communication with the company’s management, they quickly strengthened their confidence.ARecall that in the face of the sudden crisis, Moore Thread management did not choose to shrink its defenses, but instead made a clear statement to all shareholders:“Increase investment in research and development and fully promote the research and development of next-generation products.“
An internal letter subsequently sent by Zhang Jianzhong further confirmedAstatement.He emphasized in the letter:“ChinaGPUdoes not exist‘darkest hour’, to create China’s best full-featuredGPU, Moore Thread will carry this cause to the end.“At the same time, he clarified four major directions of attack: accelerating independent research and development and innovation, polishing high-quality products, promoting application implementation, and building an efficient team.
This statement and action were like a shot in the arm, greatly stabilizing market confidence, and at the same time quickly transformed into actual support from capital: Within ten days of the internal letter being issued, Moore Thread announced the completion of hundreds of millions ofB+A round of financing, investors include Zhongguancun Science City, Houxue Capital, Zhonghe Capital, Tuofeng Investment, Ceyuan Capital and Henderson Land Development and other institutions.
Faced with this round of financing under extreme pressure from the industry, many investors said it was “precious”.This round of financing not only injects solid confidence into the market, but also gives shareholders concerned about Moore’s thread a temporary sigh of relief.
At the same time, in the face of this tough battle, Moore Threads has also demonstrated its resilience with continued growth in performance.2024The company’s annual revenue further increased to4.38billion, compared with2023year-on-year growth252%, the revenue curve has always maintained an upward trend.And2025First half of the year: operating income of approx.7.02billion, exceeding the total revenue of the past three years.
IPOThe current “hotness” and the inability to grab old stocks
Many early investors have personally experienced the transition from Moore’s thread valuation to“soar“Arrive“callback“again“surge“The complete cycle of the company, and the last time they deeply felt the enthusiasm of the capital market for this company was in2024second half of the year.
2024year11At the beginning of the month, Moore Thread signed a listing guidance agreement with CITIC Securities and officially launchedIPOprocess.As soon as the news came out, the share price of Heertai, a listed company that holds equity in Moore Thread, nearly doubled in just a few trading days.——For the first time, the money-making effect was so intuitively presented to the public.
The external environment has also ushered in fundamental changes.As the country continues to increase its policy on science and technology innovation andAIThe industry has exploded across the board, and chip companies such as Cambrian have continued to surge in the secondary market.The entire market begins to look at Moore’s threads with new eyes——as“Chinese version of NVIDIA“The value has been rediscovered and repriced.
The frenzy of the primary market at the end of the yearPre-IPOThis is clearly reflected in the round of financing.Invest in JiachuanCVSourceIt shows that as many investment institutions entered this round38family, total capital increase for the company52.25billion, with a pre-money valuation of up to246.2billion.
What is even more shocking than these numbers is that all partiesIn order to compete for share, capital almost shows off its magical powers, and the level of competition is extremely fierce.In the version we heard, some colleagues requested to transfer their old shares, and someLPIn exchange for admission tickets on the condition of “investing in the next fund”, some people even contacted them through family connections; it can be said that it is truly “a ticket is hard to get.”“.
time comes2025At the beginning of the year, Moore Thread announced that it had received a strategic financing from Sorghum Capital, Mingde Boya, and Star Investment.
The investor Zhang Yuan mentioned above revealed that their institution also wanted to invest more at this time, but even as an early shareholder, they still could not get any shares.In desperation, I had to switch to another competing company, which also recently announcedIPOPlan.
There are more rumors circulating on the market“miss“regret.investorBShowed me a chat: last year11moon moore threadIPOWhen the news first came out, a friend reminded him that he had a share“Get on the bus“, the valuation is at240Around 100 million yuan, but he has“IPOToo much uncertainty“Reasons to decline.
Everyone knows the story behind it.Moore’s thread88The meeting was over in a hurry, and the market value of the issuance was approximately537100 million yuan, the largest number on the Science and Technology Innovation Board this yearIPORecords; those investors who once hesitated, missed, or gave up can now only look at this number and silently calculate in their hearts the returns that might have been theirs.
from2020The company was born in 2016, peaked at its debut, the industry suddenly encountered a “black swan” and fell into adjustment, and now it has successfully landed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board. The five-year entrepreneurial journey of Moore Thread can be called a hard-core breakthrough with twists and turns.
11month21day, onIPOAt the IPO road show, the company’s founder Zhang Jianzhong reiterated his original intention: “Although the company still lags behind NVIDIA and NVIDIA in terms of technology accumulation and product performance,AMDand other international giants, especially in ultra-large-scaleGPUIn terms of cluster construction and ecological maturity, the gap is still obvious, but some of the performance indicators of our products have approached or reached the international advanced level, achieving breakthroughs in core products in some “stuck” areas.”
He gave an example,MTTS80The single-precision floating-point computing power of the graphics card is close to that of NVIDIARTX3060, based onMTTS5000The efficiency of the built kilo-card intelligent computing cluster is even higher than that of foreign products of the same generation of the same scale.
Zhang Jianzhong also mentioned that driven by external restrictive policies and national data security protection needs, ChinaGPUThe market is accelerating the process of localization, and localGPUEnterprises are constantly breaking through intellectual property technology barriers.
Combined with Frost & Sullivan’s predictions, China’s futureGPUThe market localization rate will be significantly increased, gradually replacing imported products; currentlyAIThe explosion in demand for computing power is undoubtedly also caused by domesticGPUAn unprecedented development window has opened.
