Cambricon Technologies, dubbed “China’s little Nvidia,” on Thursday became the costliest stock in mainland China’s equities market after it reported substantial growth in the first quarter amid an artificial intelligence boom and China’s tech self-sufficiency push.Cambricon shares rose as much as 18 per cent to nearly 1,680 yuan (US$245) on Thursday, beating optical chipmaker Yuanjie Semiconductor Technology, which traded at around 1,660 yuan.On Wednesday, Cambricon announced a 160 per cent revenue jump to 2.89 billion yuan in the March quarter, while profits soared 185 per cent to 1 billion yuan.In August 2025, Cambricon temporarily overtook the liquor distiller Kweichow Moutai – the long-standing champion of Chinese equities – in terms of stock price.The Beijing-based, Shanghai-listed chip designer attributed its strong growth to a “sustained surge in the AI industry’s computing power demand”.The company said last month that it planned to distribute a cash dividend of 15 yuan for every 10 shares held, totalling more than 632 million yuan, after announcing in February that it had swung to a net profit of 2 billion yuan last year, following years of losses.