Shares in China’s largest memory chip maker, ChangXin Memory Technologies, soared by nearly 470% in their debut on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s tech-heavy STAR Market, pushing the company’s valuation to roughly 3.3 trillion yuan and making it the most valuable listed company in mainland China.
The spectacular opening performance, reported by the BBC, gave CXMT a market capitalization of about $487 billion, overtaking Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s 2.6 trillion yuan valuation. CNBC, citing a slightly different figure, said the stock closed up nearly 466% at 49 yuan per share.
The Hefei-based firm had raised 57.92 billion yuan, or about $8.6 billion, after pricing its initial public offering at 8.66 yuan per share, according to CNBC. That made it Asia’s biggest IPO so far this year.
The debut arrived despite a sharp sell-off in technology stocks globally this month. Chinese financial officials have been rolling out measures to curb a stock market slump that wiped out more than $1.5 trillion in recent weeks, the BBC reported. The stellar performance of CXMT’s offering offered some comfort amid that broader rout.
Analysts pointed to a simple mechanical driver behind the surge. Anna Macdonald, investment strategy director at Hargreaves Lansdown, told the BBC’s Today programme that only 7% of CXMT’s shares were available for trading, meaning demand far outstripped supply on the opening day.
A company of unusual size
Theodore Shou, CEO at Yiyi Capital, told CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia that a 470% first-day jump is not that rare in isolation. What stood out, he said, was a company of CXMT’s size performing so well. In the past, such explosive debuts were primarily driven by smaller-cap companies. For CXMT, the relatively limited free float on day one, combined with built-up market sentiment, were key factors driving the surge, Shou said.
CXMT manufactures dynamic random-access memory chips, known as DRAM, that power AI data centres, mobile phones, PCs, tablets, and other devices. Founded in 2016 by Chairman Zhu Yiming and headquartered in Hefei, Anhui Province, the company plans to use most of its IPO proceeds to boost memory chip production and carry out further research and development, according to both the BBC and CNBC’s reading of the prospectus.
The global DRAM market is dominated by South Korean tech giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix and US-based Micron Technology, which together account for roughly 90% of worldwide production, the BBC reported. CXMT held a 7.67% share of the global DRAM market based on fourth-quarter 2025 sales figures, according to its IPO prospectus cited by CNBC.
AI demand and supply strain
The listing comes at a moment of heightened attention for CXMT. CNBC reported that Apple has begun testing the Chinese chipmaker’s DRAM for devices sold in China, citing reports earlier this month. The company swung to an operating profit of 35.43 billion yuan in the first quarter from a loss of 2.83 billion yuan a year earlier, driven by continued growth in global computing power demand and capacity allocation by major manufacturers.
Memory prices have more than doubled in recent months and are still rising, the BBC reported, noting that some big tech firms have raised prices on popular gadgets such as tablets and video game consoles to cope with rising component costs. Ellie Wong, an analyst at technology research firm TrendForce, told Reuters that price increases are expected to continue until the end of 2027. She said that amid persistent supply shortages, many customers are seeking to diversify their memory supplier base, which should significantly benefit CXMT and create more business opportunities.
Morningstar said in a note that as AI increasingly becomes an issue of national security for China, CXMT will likely be a key beneficiary, CNBC reported. The research firm added that while CXMT’s technology still lags global memory leaders, domestic internet giants spearheading AI development will likely drive strong adoption of its chips as Beijing pushes for semiconductor self-sufficiency.
Shou offered a cautionary note. He said he thinks the market is nearing a short-term peak in sentiment around the memory cycle, and that investors have already been selling into the IPO, particularly in China. These memory chip businesses are sustainable, he said, but the margins and net profitability seen today are not sustainable and have to normalize over a cycle. He added that while this may not be the peak for share prices, the market is right at the peak of a demand and supply imbalance.
The broader context includes rival SK Hynix, a key supplier to AI chip giant Nvidia, which raised $26.5 billion in a New York share offering earlier this month, marking the largest ever listing by a foreign firm in the US, according to the BBC. SK Hynix saw its market value top $1 trillion in its home country in May, lifted by the boom in demand for AI chips.