Industry AI Minute Newsroom 2026-08-28

The last of China's four AI chip start-ups is going public — and one customer, Tencent, was 84 percent of its revenue last year

Enflame, founded in Shanghai in 2018 by a former AMD engineer, set the terms of its listing on Shanghai's STAR Market this week: preliminary price consultations open on 28 August, share subscriptions on 2 September, and 43.04 million new shares for about 10 percent of the enlarged company, raising 6 billion yuan — roughly 892 million dollars. It is the last of the group Chinese media call the four little GPU dragons, alongside Moore Threads, MetaX and Biren, to reach the market. Tencent owns 20.3 percent of it and bought 83.8 percent of its revenue in 2025, up from about 38 percent the year before. Revenue reached 990 million yuan last year against roughly 600 million dollars of losses over three years, and the company has never turned a profit. The money is earmarked for its fifth and sixth generation chips, due in 2027 and 2029.

Why it mattersChina's answer to export controls has been to fund domestic chip designers and let them list at home even before they earn anything — the STAR Market exists precisely to allow that. But the number that matters here is not the 892 million being raised, it is the 83.8 percent. A company that ships advanced silicon almost entirely to its own largest shareholder is not yet proof that a real market for Chinese AI accelerators exists. It is proof that one buyer can keep a chip roadmap alive. Public investors are now being asked to fund the part where that changes.

✓ Verified · 4 sources

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The last of China's four AI chip start-ups is going public — and one customer, Tencent, was 84 percent of its revenue last year

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