On July 27, ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) saw its shares jump 470% at the Shanghai STAR Market opening, marking one of the most explosive debuts in recent years.
The Chinese DRAM chipmaker raised between $8.6 billion and $9.8 billion through its IPO, making it the largest public offering in Asia so far in 2026 and the biggest semiconductor IPO in mainland China since 2020.
Shares were initially priced at 8.66 yuan, but demand quickly surged beyond expectations. Retail investors applied for shares over 200 times more than the available allocation, meaning less than 1% of applicants secured stock.
Initial valuations put CXMT at around 580 billion yuan, roughly $85 billion, but the market response pushed its worth far beyond that figure during the first trading day.
Despite holding just under 8% of the global DRAM market, CXMT’s breakout performance signals growing investor enthusiasm for China’s semiconductor ambitions, which have long been overshadowed by giants like Samsung and Micron.
Interestingly, crypto traders on the Hyperliquid blockchain had already been speculating on CXMT’s market cap through a futures contract, with pre-listing valuations reaching as high as $500 billion.
The capital influx from this IPO is earmarked primarily for expanding production capacity, aiming to challenge the dominance of South Korean and American firms in critical memory chip segments used across smartphones, data centers, and AI infrastructure.
The massive oversubscription rate also reflects strong confidence in China's domestic chip industry amid complex global political tensions.
However, the 470% surge suggests CXMT left significant funds on the table by setting the initial price too low, benefiting investors but limiting proceeds for the company itself.
