China is bracing for a potential massive sell-off on Thursday as a lock-up period affecting 14 million shares in MetaX Integrated Circuits is set to expire. Analysts expect MetaX to face “significant selling pressure” once the restricted shares are released for trading.
The concern follows a similar event last week, when the expiry of a lock-up period for shares in fellow AI chip firm Moore Threads triggered an avalanche of sales that erased nearly 49 billion yuan (US$7.3 billion) from the company’s value in a single day.
MetaX lock-up and market implications
The looming release of MetaX shares is widely viewed as a crucial test for China’s AI chip stocks. These companies have drawn huge investor interest as China seeks to develop domestic challengers to US graphics processing unit behemoth Nvidia, and the outcome of this lock-up expiry will be watched for signs of how resilient the sector’s valuations are to concentrated share releases.
Market participants and analysts are monitoring the situation closely, given the recent volatility triggered by the Moore Threads lock-up expiry and its sharp impact on that firm’s market value.
