Chinese social media has been buzzing with disbelief and humor over India’s latest stock market frenzy, RRP Semiconductor Ltd., a company whose skyrocketing stock is almost entirely divorced from its real operations. The share price of RRP Semiconductor has surged by an eye-popping 55,000 percent over the past 20 months, making it one of the world’s most spectacularly performing stocks, despite reporting negative revenue, only two full-time employees, and no actual semiconductor production. Some media even call it a ‘crazy demon stock.’
The disconnect originates from the company’s transformation and the narrative surrounding it. In early 2024, Rajendra Chodankar, whose prior experience includes niche products such as thermal imaging systems and weaponized drone cameras, took over GD Trading and Agencies Ltd. and renamed it RRP Semiconductor. Around the same time, Chodankar incorporated a separate private company, RRP Electronics Pvt. Ltd., with plans to build an outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing facility in Maharashtra.
The two entities are linked only through Chodankar. While RRP Semiconductor lists RRP Electronics as a related party, it holds no direct ownership stake. Retail investors appear to have conflated the listed company with its private counterpart, driving frenzied buying based on the promise of AI and semiconductor exposure rather than any tangible business fundamentals.
Chinese netizens have been mocking the spectacle online, emphasizing how simply adding “Semiconductor” to a company name and crafting the right narrative can produce astronomical and almost surreal stock gains, even when the underlying business is essentially nonexistent. They find it particularly amusing that the absence of listed chipmakers in India has left retail investors eager for any proxy exposure to the global AI boom.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? China has also experienced AI-driven stock surges. Companies such as Cambricon, which surpassed Moutai in August as China’s most expensive stock at 4,554 times historical earnings, and Moore Threads Technology, a newly listed AI chip startup whose shares rose more than 500% despite recent volatility, have drawn intense attention.
Unlike RRP, these Chinese firms are part of an industry that has achieved real technological breakthroughs and aims to catch up with the U.S. in semiconductors. Chinese investors see them as strategically important, valuing long-term potential over short-term fundamentals. In contrast, Chinese netizens’ ridicule of India’s AI stock mania reflects a mixture of amusement and condescension toward India’s AI and semiconductor capabilities.
