CXMT Surges 466% in Record China IPO, Becomes Nation’s Most Valuable Listed Firm

CXMT Corp., China’s largest maker of DRAM memory chips, rocketed 466% higher in its first day of trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s STAR Market on Monday, making it the most valuable company listed in mainland China.

The stock closed at 49 yuan ($7.24), according to multiple reports, versus an IPO price of 8.66 yuan ($1.30). At that closing price, CXMT’s market capitalization stood at roughly 3.3 trillion yuan ($487 billion to $490 billion), surpassing all other A-share companies. During the session, the company’s market value briefly eclipsed Hong Kong-listed Tencent Holdings Ltd., topping $547 billion, before Tencent reclaimed the crown. CXMT remains the most valuable company on a mainland exchange.

The offering raised at least $8.6 billion (57.92 billion yuan), making it mainland China’s largest IPO since Agricultural Bank of China raised $22.1 billion in 2010. According to Bloomberg, as reported by Forbes, the IPO was 212 times oversubscribed. The listing generated 141 billion yuan in turnover Monday, representing nearly 7% of all transactions in China’s onshore market, according to the Financial Post.

Investors piled into the stock amid a global memory-chip shortage fueled by surging AI demand. CXMT is the world’s fourth-largest DRAM maker by shipments, with roughly 8% of the global market in 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. In the first three months of 2026, its share rose to about 9%. By 2028, Counterpoint forecasts it could reach 11%, but the firm estimates CXMT will need at least a 15% market share to be competitive long-term.

The company’s first-quarter revenue surged to 50.8 billion yuan ($7.5 billion), a more than 700% gain year-over-year, according to its IPO prospectus. Revenue in the first half of 2026 is expected to hit 110 billion to 120 billion yuan, nearly doubling the full-year 2025 tally of 61.8 billion yuan.

“CXMT plays a critical role in China’s AI push, particularly in the face of U.S. export controls,” said Kyle Chan, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, as reported by Fortune.

“The stock’s opening was largely in line with my expectations, but the sharp move higher after the open has been remarkable,” said Ao Fei, managing director at Beijing Xinhan Capital, as reported by the Financial Post. “Given how scarce pure-play memory names are in the A-share market, I wouldn’t rule out a period of speculative frenzy in the first few trading days.”

**Apple Interest and Geopolitical Risks**

CXMT’s memory chips have drawn attention from Apple Inc. The Wall Street Journal asked Apple CEO Tim Cook about the company potentially sourcing Chinese memory chips, and Cook said: “I think everything needs to be on the table…I think we should look at all supply,” according to Forbes. The Financial Times reported last month that Apple has been lobbying the Trump administration for a waiver to buy CXMT’s chips, as CXMT is currently on a Pentagon blacklist for alleged ties to the Chinese military, Forbes noted. Apple announced an across-the-board price increase for its Mac computers and iPads last month, partly driven by the memory chip shortage.

Despite its blockbuster debut, CXMT faces significant headwinds. The company’s access to advanced chipmaking tools from suppliers like ASML is restricted due to U.S. export controls, forcing it to rely on Chinese equipment. “Trade restrictions on tools are remaining as the key challenge for CXMT,” said MS Hwang, a research director at Counterpoint, as reported by Fortune and the Independent.

The U.S. Department of Defense last month designated CXMT as a “Chinese Military Company,” and Reuters has reported that a U.S. interagency committee approved the company for addition to the Entity List, though that has not yet been implemented, according to multiple sources. Some U.S. lawmakers have called for the Trump administration to block American companies from buying CXMT’s memory chips over national security concerns.

**State-Backed Champion**

CXMT, formerly ChangXin Memory Technologies, was founded in 2016 in Hefei, Anhui. Its IPO prospectus shows state-owned shareholders held 36.29% before the offering, including local government investors from Hefei and Anhui and China’s state-backed “Big Fund” semiconductor investment vehicle. Company filings describe Zhu Yiming, founder of GigaDevice Semiconductor, as central to the creation and development of CXMT; he later became chairman.

Despite its $490 billion valuation, CXMT remains well below its competitors. SK Hynix, which raised $26.5 billion in a U.S. IPO earlier this month, has an $881 billion market cap; Micron Technology is valued at roughly $1 trillion; and Samsung Electronics at about $1.1 trillion. CXMT trails in advanced high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, crucial for AI accelerators, a market dominated by Samsung and SK Hynix.

CXMT plans to use IPO proceeds to expand production capacity, upgrade manufacturing technology, and fund R&D, according to its prospectus. The company aims to double output in 2026 and build a vertically integrated supply chain, people familiar with the matter told the Financial Post.