ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), a Chinese memory chipmaker, began trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on July 27 and its stock jumped 472% on debut. The company raised 66.6 billion yuan, or about $9.8 billion, in its initial public offering, making it the second-largest IPO in China’s history, behind Agricultural Bank of China in 2010.
The source article said the listing made CXMT one of the largest domestically scaled listed companies in China. Its market debut comes as demand for artificial intelligence chips remains strong and Beijing continues to push for greater technology self-reliance.
6.688 billion shares sold as retail demand surged
CXMT sold 6.688 billion shares in the offering at 8.66 yuan apiece. The stock opened at 49.50 yuan, lifting the company’s market capitalization to about 3.3 trillion yuan.
Investor demand was strong. The retail tranche was oversubscribed by 212 times, and individual investors submitted 9.4 million subscription orders with a combined value of 7.07 trillion yuan, according to the article.
AI demand and a shift beyond standard HBM tools
The report described CXMT as the world’s fourth-largest maker of dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM. Its chips are used in smartphones and AI servers. As companies expand AI supply chains, high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, has become a critical component.
CXMT has been investing in HBM research since 2023, the article said. But U.S. export controls have blocked the company from obtaining key manufacturing tools used for standard HBM, pushing it to direct part of its strategy toward customized 3D DRAM and 3D integrated circuit, or 3D IC, technologies. The stated aim is to improve data transmission performance without relying on traditional HBM equipment.
The article also said CXMT is widely seen as central to China’s effort to reduce reliance on imported core technologies and build up domestic technological capacity.
Pricing limits and valuation discount
The first-day surge was attributed in part to regulatory limits on IPO pricing in China. Bloomberg data cited by the article showed the offering was priced at a price-to-book ratio of 2.4.
That represented a 56% discount to the average book-value multiple of global peers including SK Hynix, Micron and Nanya, and a 77% discount to Chinese chipmakers, according to the same source. The article said that valuation gap drew risk-averse capital into the deal.
What analysts highlighted after the listing
Market analysts quoted in the source said CXMT still has room to expand in both technology and market share. Huaxi Securities predicted the company’s market value could reach 5 trillion yuan as revenue grows.
The report added that CXMT’s successful listing may support momentum for future offerings by other technology companies, including Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp. (YMTC) and Kunlunxin, a chip company under Baidu.