Tencent-backed Enflame IPO draws 6,109 times online demand

BEIJING, Sept. 2 (Reuters) - Chinese AI chipmaker Shanghai Enflame Technology 688801.SS, backed by Tencent, drew investor orders worth 6,109 times the shares available in the online portion of its Shanghai initial public offering, an exchange filing showed on Wednesday.

Investors are betting Beijing's push to develop domestic alternatives to U.S. chip suppliers such as Nvidia NVDA.O will create opportunities for Chinese AI chipmakers, after President Donald Trump tightened curbs on exports of advanced chips and chipmaking equipment to China.

In response to the excess demand, Enflame moved 3.4 million shares from the offline tranche to the online sale after receiving orders from more than 7 million online investor accounts, Wednesday's filing showed.

It said the final winning rate for online investors was 0.025%. The company will announce the results on Friday.

Enflame set its IPO price at 142.18 yuan per share and aims to raise about 6.1 billion yuan ($908 million) by selling 43 million shares on Shanghai's tech-focused STAR Market.

It has said it plans to use the IPO proceeds to develop and produce its fifth- and sixth-generation AI chips and related software and hardware.

The company initially allocated 6.89 million shares, or 20% of the shares available after the strategic placement, to online investors, the filing showed.

The shift raised the online allocation to 10.33 million shares, or 30% of the post-strategic-placement offering, while the offline tranche received the remaining 70%, the filing showed.

($1 = 6.7216 Chinese yuan renminbi)