Chinese chipmaker CXMT surges 470% in Shanghai debut, becomes mainland's most valuable listed company

ChangXin Memory Technologies shares soared nearly 470% on their debut on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Star Market, according to BBC reporting. The company's stock market valuation reached approximately 3.3 trillion yuan ($487 billion; £365 billion), making it the most valuable listed company in mainland China as of the debut date.

CXMT manufactures dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips that power AI data centers, mobile phones, PCs, tablets, and other devices. The company was founded in 2016 by Chairman Zhu Yiming and is headquartered in Hefei, Anhui Province in eastern China. Per company announcements, CXMT plans to use most of the proceeds from the IPO to boost production of memory chips and carry out more research and development.

The extraordinary surge was driven by extreme supply scarcity: only 7% of CXMT shares are available for trading, with demand for shares far outstripping supply. Memory prices have more than doubled in recent months and are still rising, according to the BBC's reporting. The analyst Ellie Wong at TrendForce said price increases were expected to continue until the end of 2027, citing persistent supply shortages and customers seeking to diversify their memory supplier base.

CXMT enters a market dominated by three competitors. Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron account for roughly 90% of global DRAM production. SK Hynix itself raised $26.5 billion (£19.8 billion) in its New York share offering earlier in July, marking the largest ever listing by a foreign firm in the US. SK Hynix sold 177.9 million American depositary shares for $149 each. SK Hynix shares surged as much as 17% on their first Nasdaq trading day but have since given up some of that gain. The company saw its market value top $1 trillion in its home country in May, lifted by boom demand for AI chips.

Some big tech firms have hiked the price of popular gadgets, such as tablets and video game consoles, to cope with rising component costs. CXMT's strong IPO performance comes despite a sharp sell-off in technology stocks around the world this month, per BBC reporting.

The stellar performance of CXMT's debut offers comfort to Chinese financial officials, who have been rolling out measures to help curb a stock market slump that wiped out more than $1.5 trillion in recent weeks, according to BBC reporting. CXMT's surge highlights Chinese investors' strong appetite for a homegrown chipmaker, as the government in Beijing pushes ahead with plans to make its technology industry self-reliant.