Chinese chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) made a historic debut on Shanghai's STAR Market on July 27, 2026, with shares surging 466% to close at 49 yuan. The blockbuster listing raised 57.92 billion yuan ($8.6 billion), valuing the firm at 3.3 trillion yuan ($487 billion) and making it mainland China's most valuable listed company. The surge highlights intense domestic investor enthusiasm for a national semiconductor champion amid US-led export restrictions on advanced chipmaking equipment.
CXMT Shanghai IPO
- ▪ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) raised 57.92 billion yuan ($8.6 billion) in its initial public offering, making it Asia's largest IPO of 2026
- ▪The retail portion of the ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) initial public offering was 212 times oversubscribed, with only 6.73% of the company's enlarged share capital freely tradable at listing
- ▪ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) shares soared nearly 466% on July 27, 2026, in their debut on Shanghai's STAR Market, closing at 49 yuan
- ▪ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) achieved a market capitalization of approximately 3.3 trillion yuan ($487 billion) on its first trading day, overtaking Industrial and Commercial Bank of China as mainland China's most valuable listed company
STAR Market liquidity drain
- ▪The STAR 50 Index fell nearly 20% from its July 1, 2026 peak by the time the ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) subscription window closed on July 16, 2026, as investors liquidated holdings to freeze application funds
- ▪According to local media reports cited by Reuters, around 141.1 billion yuan worth of ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) shares were traded on July 27, 2026, making it the first A-share stock to exceed 100 billion yuan in daily turnover
CXMT profitability turnaround
- ▪ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) reported first-quarter 2026 revenue of 50.8 billion yuan ($7.51 billion), representing a 719% year-on-year surge
- ▪ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) swung to an operating profit of 35.43 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2026, compared to a loss of 2.83 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2025
- ▪ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) projects first-half 2026 revenue to reach between 110 billion yuan and 120 billion yuan, nearly double its full-year 2025 revenue of 61.8 billion yuan
DUV multi-patterning constraints
- ▪ChangXin Memory Technologies' (CXMT) current leading process node achieves a cell size of roughly 16 nanometers, placing its process-node technology approximately five to six years behind leading global DRAM makers
- ▪The deep-ultraviolet (DUV) multi-patterning technique used by ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) results in a cost-per-bit that trails Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron by more than 30%
- ▪ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) compensates for its lack of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography by using deep-ultraviolet (DUV) multi-patterning, which runs each layer through two to four separate exposure passes
EUV export restrictions
- ▪ASML has never shipped an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine to China due to Dutch export regulations maintained under United States pressure since 2019
- ▪United States export controls and restrictions have limited China's access to advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment and barred the import of powerful high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips
Bonded DRAM pilot production
- ▪The bonded DRAM architecture under development by ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) allows the company to approximate the density and performance gains of EUV-enabled chips using DUV multi-patterning
- ▪ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) has reportedly begun pilot production of bonded DRAM at its Hefei facility, using an architecture that fuses a memory cell array wafer and a peripheral control circuitry wafer through wafer-to-wafer hybrid bonding
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