CXMT Set for Historic Shanghai Debut as China’s Second-Largest IPO Raises $9.8 Billion

China’s leading memory chipmaker CXMT Corp. is poised to become the largest company on the country’s stock markets when its shares start trading in Shanghai on Monday, following a near-record initial public offering that raised 66.6 billion yuan ($9.8 billion).

The company, formerly known as ChangXin Memory Technologies, sold 6.688 billion shares at 8.66 yuan apiece, according to its prospectus. The base offering raised 57.92 billion yuan ($8.6 billion), with proceeds potentially rising to the full 66.6 billion yuan if underwriters exercise an over-allotment option, the company said. The IPO is the second-largest in China’s history, behind only Agricultural Bank of China’s $10 billion share sale in 2010.

The listing on the Shanghai STAR Market marks a milestone for Beijing’s push to build domestic champions in advanced semiconductors and reduce reliance on foreign suppliers amid U.S.-led export curbs. CXMT is the world’s fourth-largest maker of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), the chips used in computers, smartphones, servers and artificial intelligence systems.

Investor demand has been voracious. The retail portion of the IPO was 212 times oversubscribed, with individual investors submitting 9.4 million orders for 7.07 trillion yuan worth of shares, according to the Business Times. The issue price of 8.66 yuan and the offering size of 6.688 billion shares — both containing numbers associated with good fortune in Chinese culture — underscored the significance of the listing, the outlet reported.

The IPO price implies 2.4 times book value, a 56% discount to the average price-to-book ratio of global DRAM peers SK Hynix, Micron Technology and Nanya Technology, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. It represents an even steeper 77% discount to the average for Chinese chipmakers Semiconductor Manufacturing International and Hua Hong Grace Semiconductor.

Trading on shadow markets suggests expectations of a sharp debut rally. A perpetual futures contract on the Hyperliquid blockchain tied to CXMT’s expected share price traded at about five times the offer price, implying a valuation of roughly $428 billion, according to the Business Times. That would put CXMT on a path to surpass Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s 2.6 trillion yuan market value for the top spot with a gain of roughly 330%.

“As the undisputed leader in China’s substitution story, there will be plenty of funds willing to buy once it pulls back to below 2 trillion yuan in value,” said Zeng Jiqing, a fund manager at Beijing Nuohua Investment Management, as reported by the Business Times. “There’s still enormous room for growth.”

Newly issued stocks on the STAR Market are not subject to daily trading limits during their first week, allowing for potentially large swings.

**Liquidity Jitters**

The mega-listing has stoked fears of a liquidity squeeze in Chinese equities, as investors raise cash to participate. The STAR 50 Index, which tracks the largest companies on the STAR Market, has slid almost 20% this quarter, according to CNBC.

“There is no question that capital is being pulled from the market in preparation for the public listing of CXMT shares,” said Peter Alexander, founder of Z-Ben Advisors, as reported by CNBC. He expects a marked jump in the share price on the first day and possibly the second day before the market settles into a new equilibrium.

Analysts, however, caution that the IPO is an amplifying factor rather than the root cause of the recent sell-off. “The primary reason for this pullback lies in crowded positioning and high leverage levels within the A-share tech sector,” Tim Sun, senior researcher at HashKey Group, told CNBC, noting that a correction in Korean chip stocks also spilled over into global semiconductor valuations.

Benjamin Cavender, managing director at CMR Consulting, told CNBC that the phenomenon resembles the “cash call” effect seen around major IPOs, when investors rotate out of listed companies to raise cash for highly anticipated offerings. China is especially vulnerable because of its large retail investor base — retail investors account for about 90% of daily trading, compared to about 25% in the U.S., according to HSBC.

Cavender said the direct liquidity impact should prove temporary, with cash likely returning to the market once allocations are completed and trading begins. However, a sustained pipeline of large semiconductor and AI offerings could change the supply-demand balance for high-growth Chinese equities.

**Growth Outlook**

Counterpoint Research, cited by CNBC, expects the capital raised to accelerate CXMT’s capacity expansion and strengthen its position in the global memory market. The IPO proceeds will fund chip production, research and development, and working capital, the company said.

Sell-side analysts are bullish. Huaxi Securities projects a market value of 5 trillion yuan at 40 times 2026 earnings, seeing revenue more than doubling to 572.7 billion yuan by 2028, according to the Business Times. CXMT may also be eligible for inclusion in the Stock Connect program in the third-quarter review in late August, which would open the stock to global investors.

A successful listing could build momentum for other companies in the deal pipeline, including rival Yangtze Memory Technologies and Baidu’s chip unit Kunlunxin, the Business Times reported, adding that DeepSeek may file for an IPO as soon as 2026, according to people familiar with the matter.

The sequence of sixes and eights in CXMT’s offer details — numbers traditionally associated with prosperity in Chinese culture — is unlikely to be accidental, the Business Times noted, underscoring the importance of a listing that has become a symbol of China’s semiconductor ambitions.