ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), China's largest DRAM maker dubbed the "Chinese Samsung and SK hynix," surged nearly sixfold from its opening price on its trading debut, instantly becoming the most valuable company on China's mainland stock market.
Listed on the STAR Market, a bourse dedicated to science and technology companies, of the Shanghai Stock Exchange on the 27th, CXMT began trading at 49.5 yuan, up 471% from its opening price of 8.66 yuan. As of 9:48 a.m. local time on the same day, it was trading at 44.99 yuan, up 419%.
With this, CXMT's market capitalization easily surpassed 3 trillion yuan, overtaking the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), at approximately 2.77 trillion yuan, to claim the top spot on China's mainland stock market. Including the Hong Kong market, it ranks second overall behind Tencent, at approximately 3.99 trillion yuan.
Bloomberg had earlier forecast that day that CXMT could overtake ICBC to become the mainland's most valuable company if its shares surged about 330%. The STAR Market imposes no price limits during the first five trading days after listing. Moore Threads and MetaX, chip design companies that listed on the STAR Market last December, also surged about 400% and 700%, respectively, on their trading debuts.
Meanwhile, CXMT raised up to 66.6 billion yuan (about 14 trillion won) through this IPO. This is the second-largest ever after the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), which raised 68.5 billion yuan on the Shanghai market in 2010, and the largest public offering since the launch of the STAR Market. The subscription competition rates for retail and institutional investors exceeded 200 to 1 and 1,500 to 1, respectively, signaling a boom even before the listing.
Experts expect CXMT to be the biggest beneficiary of the AI infrastructure investment boom and the Chinese authorities' technology self-reliance policy. Nomura Securities said, "Since the global memory supply shortage is not expected to ease easily over the next several years, CXMT's market share expansion will accelerate further," setting a target price of 116 yuan for CXMT that day, 1,239.5% higher than its offering price of 8.66 yuan. Goldman Sachs also held an emergency conference call, assessing that "CXMT's listing is not merely an IPO but a symbolic event marking the entry of China's semiconductor self-reliance strategy into a full-fledged commercialization phase."
