Chinese DRAM maker CXMT surged more than 500% on its July 27 debut on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, raising $8.6 billion in Asia's largest IPO of the year and dethroning ICBC as China's most valuable listed company. The chipmaker's new $539 billion valuation underscores Beijing's push for tech self-reliance, even as the company faces US military designations and lingering allegations of stolen Samsung trade secrets.
CXMT IPO: China's DRAM maker soars 500% on debut, becoming Asia's largest IPO of the year
Shares open at nearly RMB 50, catapulting the chipmaker to a $539 billion valuation and dethroning ICBC as China's most valuable company.
China's DRAM chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange STAR Market on July 27, 2026, raising $8.6 billion in Asia's largest IPO of the year. Shares surged more than 500% on debut.
The stock opened at RMB 49.50 against an IPO price of RMB 8.66. That move catapults CXMT to a market capitalization of approximately $539 billion. If you're keeping score, CXMT is now China's most valuable listed company, dethroning ICBC. The offering raised 57.92 billion yuan across 10.6 billion shares. That's a massive bet by investors on domestic memory production.
The fundamentals
CXMT is the world's fourth-largest DRAM maker, holding about 7.7% global market share in 2025. The company was founded in 2016 in Hefei, Anhui Province. It now operates three 12-inch DRAM fabs in Beijing and Hefei.
Revenue is booming. CXMT reported Q1 2026 revenue of RMB 50.8 billion, up 719% year-over-year. The jump reflects the global memory-chip upcycle and stronger AI-driven demand for high-bandwidth memory. The company expects H1 2026 revenue to land between RMB 110 billion and RMB 120 billion. That's nearly double the full-year 2025 total.
Next, the product mix. CXMT ships DDR4, DDR5, LPDDR4X, and LPDDR5 chips. The company began shipping 16 nm G4 DDR5 commercial kits in early 2025. Plans call for HBM back-end packaging production at a Shanghai facility by end of 2026.
Keep in mind that CXMT has no controlling shareholder and no actual controller. The prospectus lists five shareholders with stakes above 5%. Hefei government-linked investors hold about 36.8% of the post-IPO company.
"The local government has supported the company through years of losses, and now stands to reap sizable rewards," said Christopher Beddor of Gavekal Dragonomics. Hefei-linked investors are not selling in the IPO. They stand to reap huge paper gains. The city-backed stake is worth roughly RMB 213 billion at the IPO price.
Geopolitics and the irony
It's a staggering valuation for a company that still relies on US-restricted equipment and has been accused of stealing trade secrets. The IPO says one thing; the trade policy says another.
The US Department of Defense added CXMT to its "Chinese Military Company" list in June 2026. Reuters reported the company was approved for the US Entity List by an interagency committee, though implementation is pending.
The federal ban on CXMT chips in use since 2022 remains in effect. US export controls limit CXMT's access to advanced chipmaking tools, including EUV lithography.
Then there's the origin story. In 2023, ten former Samsung employees were arrested for allegedly stealing DRAM trade secrets. The theft cost Samsung over $1 billion. One was a former Samsung executive who took up a role at CXMT as head of development.
Samsung technology "allowed CXMT to skip a large amount of time- and cost-intensive development," according to reports. That's not even the full story. The US has also arrested engineers linked to SK Hynix who attempted to leak technology to Chinese firms.
CXMT has a major win anyway. The company secured a $3 billion memory supply deal with Tencent in June 2026. There are also unconfirmed reports that Apple is testing CXMT memory chips. As of July 27, that hasn't been verified. A confirmed Apple adoption would be a breakthrough for the company.
"The local government has supported the company through years of losses, and now stands to reap sizable rewards," Beddor said. "This is a major deal for Hefei. The city is known for its highly active industrial policy, and CXMT is its single biggest bet."
Where the money goes
CXMT plans to deploy RMB 29.5 billion of the IPO proceeds across three priorities:
- Memory-wafer production-line technology upgrades: RMB 7.5 billion
- DRAM memory-technology upgrades: RMB 13.0 billion
- Forward-looking DRAM research and development: RMB 9.0 billion
The allocation signals a push to close the gap with rivals. CXMT's HBM packaging target by end of 2026 is part of that play.
The Hefei "model" of state-as-venture-capitalist is getting a fresh showcase. Reuters noted that the windfall could reinforce Beijing's case for deploying public capital into industries deemed critical to China's technological ambitions.
"This IPO brings together multiple goals of the government, including aggressively promoting AI and advanced tech and enhancing capital market development," said Eswar Prasad of Cornell University.
The macro puzzle
The valuation reflects strategic appetite as much as fundamentals. CXMT trades at over half the valuation of Micron despite a far smaller global market share.
Any eventual proceeds from CXMT's state shareholders are expected to be recycled into the next generation of strategic industries rather than distributed to households. That limits the wealth-effect potential for consumers.
"This is the heart of the current macro puzzle: The economy has a growth engine, but it is an engine that powers exports and corporate profits without generating the wage growth needed to sustain domestic demand," said Jeremy Stevens of Standard Bank.
The long wait for CXMT's listing is over. Shares are now trading under ticker 688825 on the STAR Market. The company has dethroned ICBC and positioned itself as the lynchpin of China's memory ambitions.
