The Chen brothers were students in an elite CAS ‘genius youth class’, a special programme designed to train top local talent
The hottest company in China right now is Cambricon Technologies, an artificial intelligence chipmaker whose stock has surged about 10-fold over the past two years, driven by expectations that it could be a serious challenger to Nvidia in the mainland market.
The frenzy over Cambricon, whose stock is trading at an eye-watering trailing 12-month price-to-earnings ratio above 4,000 – compared to under 60 for Nvidia – reflects a growing belief in China that the country is on a path to develop an AI ecosystem independent from US hardware.
Chinese model developer DeepSeek’s recent suggestion that the country’s “next-generation home-grown AI chips” were just around the corner has ignited enthusiasm about Cambricon’s prospects, analysts said.
“The rapid surge in Cambricon’s valuation reflects not just its recent growth but also heavy anticipation of future potential,” said Ray Wang, research director with a focus on the global semiconductor industry at Futurum Group. “This optimism is largely driven by regulatory and geopolitical shifts, strong domestic AI demand, and the latest DeepSeek optimisations for local hardware.”
