“China’s AMD” Mu Xi Co., Ltd. (沐曦股份) and the Shadow of Foreign Capital Behind It

Market frenzy and the aftertaste

Mu Xi Co., Ltd. (沐曦股份), widely dubbed “China’s AMD,” delivered headline revenue growth in 2025 but also exposed how speculative capital can distort market signals. The stock was one of the era’s spectacles: as the second domestic GPU listing after Moore Threads (摩尔线程), Mu Xi’s IPO day saw a meteoric spike that briefly made it one of the most profitable new A‑share bets for early retail buyers — before the share price subsequently cooled and in some cases halved. Why the extreme swings? Partly because China’s retail investors and long-only public funds piled into a narrative of national GPU champions at the same time foreign venture money was concentrating bets.

Cash burn and technical ambitions

The balance sheet tells a different, longer story. Mu Xi reported 16.44 billion yuan in revenue for 2025, up 121% year‑on‑year, but still posted a 789 million yuan loss for the year and cumulative deficits of roughly 3.846 billion yuan over four years tied to heavy R&D spending. Last year alone it ploughed 1.027 billion yuan into research — about 62% of annual revenues — reflecting the reality that building advanced GPUs is capital‑intensive and multi‑year work. Company founders, including former AMD veteran Chen Weiliang, have said a single GPU project can take three to five years and require far more than the tens of millions of dollars often cited by retail narratives.

The foreign capital question

What complicates the picture is who quietly funded the boom. It has been reported that Mu Xi’s early rounds featured a roll call of headline domestic and international investors — Sequoia China (红杉中国), Qiming Venture Partners (启明创投), IDG Capital, Hillhouse (高瓴), Matrix/经纬 and Lightspeed (光速) among them — and that some pre‑IPO stakes yielded extraordinary paper returns for early backers. Reportedly, U.S. limited partners and GP structures have been active across several high‑profile Chinese GPU and AI model startups, creating what some describe as a “global capital + Chinese tech” feedback loop that supercharged valuations. These claims, while widely cited, should be treated cautiously pending independent disclosure of LP identities and terms.

Geopolitics, risk and what to watch

The unfolding episode matters beyond stock market theater. GPUs sit at the center of an intense tech rivalry: U.S. export controls, supply‑chain restrictions and rising regulatory scrutiny make the hardware race both strategically sensitive and commercially risky. Investors chasing headline growth may underestimate long development cycles and the need for domestic manufacturing ecosystems. Who ultimately shoulders the cost — retail investors, public funds, or foreign backers seeking outsized returns — will shape China’s next phase of semiconductor development. For Western readers, the question is simple: will this wave build a durable domestic stack or mainly fund a financing rip‑roar that leaves ordinary investors holding the bill?