Chipmaker CXMT Wins Approval for China's Largest IPO Since 2022
ChangXin Memory Technologies has received approval from the Shanghai Stock Exchange to proceed with an initial public offering, targeting 29.5 billion yuan in proceeds, which would make it the largest IPO in China in four years.The Shanghai bourse's Listing Review Committee on Wednesday noted that CXMT "meets the issuance conditions, listing conditions, and information disclosure requirements" for an IPO.The chipmaker plans to list 10.6 billion shares on the STAR Market board, accounting for at least 10% of its share capital post-issuance.CXMT has agreed to grant underwriters an overallotment option to issue up to an additional 15% of the shares in the offering.China International Capital Corporation and CITIC Securities are serving as lead underwriters.Based on its IPO target size, the deal would mark the largest in China since CNOOC's (SHA:600938, HKG:0883) 32.3 billion yuan Shanghai IPO in 2022. It would also be the biggest in Asia since Contemporary Amperex Technology or CATL's (SHE:300750, HKG:3750) HK$41 billion Hong Kong IPO last year.CXMT describes itself as the world's fourth-largest supplier of dynamic random access memory (DRAM). The company competes with South Korea's Samsung Electronics (KRX:005930) and SK Hynix (KRX:000660), and US-based Micron Technology. They collectively control 90% of the DRAM market, according to The Wall Street Journal.DRAM is a chip that serves as a key component for processors, including those used for artificial intelligence models.The company supplies its products to domestic clients like Alibaba Holdings (HKG:9988), ByteDance, Tencent Holdings (HKG:0700) and Xiaomi (HKG:1810).Of the total proceeds, CXMT plans to use 13 billion yuan to upgrade its DRAM technology, 9 billion yuan for DRAM research and development, and 7.5 billion yuan to upgrade its production line."After years of development, the company has broken through key core technologies in DRAM and successfully achieved independent R&D, design, and commercial mass production of its products, filling a long-standing gap in the global market for DRAM products from mainland China," according to a translated text of CXMT's IPO prospectus.The IPO comes as CXMT continues to bank on the strong global demand for chips amid the AI boom. For the first quarter ended March 31, CXMT swung to an attributable net profit of 24.8 billion yuan from an attributable net loss of 1.56 billion yuan a year earlier. Revenue surged 719% to 50.8 billion yuan from 6.2 billion yuan.The company expects to book up to 57 billion yuan in attributable profit for the first half of 2026, versus an attributable net loss of 2.33 billion yuan a year prior. Revenue is forecast to jump by up to 677% from a year earlier to up to 120 billion yuan.Ao Fei, managing director at Beijing Xinhan Capital, told Bloomberg that CXMT's "position in the industry and its strategic importance to the nation speaks for itself.""CXMT is the reason China has been able to get a foothold in DRAM, arguably the most critical memory segment powering the AI revolution.""This is a national champion that has catalyzed China's entire semiconductor supply chain, serves as a training ground for the next generation of talent, and has elevated the industry to a new frontier," Ao reportedly said."You could argue that ChangXin today occupies the same pivotal position that CATL held at the time of its listing."Meanwhile, Dong Shaopeng, a senior research fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China, told China's Global Times that the Shanghai bourse's approval of CXMT's listing follows the outcome of policy guidance, industrial efforts and coordinated support from the financial system."Against this backdrop, continued breakthroughs in China's semiconductor industry could bring structural adjustments to the global chip market landscape," Dong was quoted by the Global Times as saying.CXMT's Shanghai IPO also comes amid an influx of new listings in mainland China and Hong Kong. Total funds raised from A-share IPOs in the first quarter of 2026 rose 8% year over year to 27.4 billion yuan, according to data from KPMG.
