ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), seen as a symbol of China's "semiconductor rise," listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on the 27th. As trading began, CXMT's share price jumped nearly 500% and instantly rose to No. 1 in market capitalization on the mainland.
According to Baidu, CXMT began trading on Shanghai's STAR Market (科创板) at 9:30 a.m. local time. The stock opened at the offer price of 8.66 yuan and surged 476% to 49.88 yuan right after the open. CXMT is China's largest DRAM chip maker and the world's No. 4 player (7.7% share), following Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Micron.
As of 10:40 a.m., CXMT's market capitalization was 3.22 trillion yuan (about 697 trillion won), surpassing Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the previous No. 1. Reuters said only 6.7% of the total shares were freely tradable at the time of listing due to locked-up holdings, which could increase share-price volatility ahead. On the STAR Market in Shanghai, there is no limit on price swings for the first five trading days after listing.
CXMT's listing is the largest on Asia's stock markets this year and the second largest ever on China's mainland exchanges after Agricultural Bank of China's 2010 listing ($10 billion, about 1.46 trillion won).
According to Bloomberg, the retail subscription ratio just before the listing was 212 to 1. Retail investors filed a total of 9.4 million subscriptions amounting to 7.07 trillion yuan (about 1,532 trillion won). That is about 10 times the size of SpaceX's retail subscriptions. The IPO frenzy is analyzed to stem from a mix of factors: the authorities' conservative pricing of the offer, relative undervaluation versus rivals, and a sharp surge in the company's profitability.
However, research firm Morningstar noted that while CXMT could benefit from expanding demand for artificial intelligence (AI) in China, the technology gap with industry leaders remains large, likely limiting its ability to grow market share in AI chips.