China's DRAM maker CXMT surges 472% on debut, tops mainland market

ChangXin Memory closed its first Shanghai session valued at about US$489 billion, becoming the most valuable mainland-listed firm.

ChangXin Memory Technologies, a Hefei-based maker of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), saw its shares climb 472 percent on their Shanghai trading debut on Monday. The stock opened at 49.50 yuan on the Star Market against an IPO price of 8.66 yuan, lifting the company to a market capitalisation of 3.31 trillion yuan, roughly US$489 billion. That made CXMT the most valuable company listed on the mainland Chinese market.

The offering raised up to 66.6 billion yuan, surpassing the 53.2 billion yuan that chipmaker SMIC raised in 2020. The debut landed during an AI-driven boom in demand for memory chips, which are a core input for data centres, phones and computers.

A well-capitalised domestic DRAM producer matters for the wider cost of computing. Memory is one of the largest bill-of-materials items in most devices, and more supply competition tends to push long-term prices down. Cheaper, more plentiful memory feeds directly into the affordability of the hardware that carries knowledge, tools and services to more people.

The scale-up is not without friction in its own market. China's securities regulator reportedly held meetings with listed companies, brokers, fund managers and academics over concerns the giant offering would pull money away from other tech stocks, and issued a July 21 statement pledging to support market stability. Whether CXMT's capital translates into competitive output — and lower memory prices — will show up over years of production, not in a single trading session.

Source: SCMP Tech