On Its First Day of Trading, It Became No. 1 in China by Market Cap... A 'Giant Catfish' Emerges in Semiconductors

ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), China's largest DRAM maker, surpassed 700 trillion won in market capitalization on its first day of trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), putting it at the top of the mainland Chinese market by market value. Emerging as a "mega player" in the global memory market, CXMT secured up to 14 trillion won through this Initial Public Offering (IPO). It plans to use the funds to accelerate capacity expansion and the development of next-generation memory. Industry watchers said China's memory sector is gaining growth momentum backed by massive capital, which is likely to intensify competition in the global DRAM market.

According to industry sources on the 27th, CXMT's trading value topped 100 billion yuan, or about 21 trillion won, roughly one hour after trading began following its listing on the SSE that day.
By the close, CXMT's market capitalization stood at about 3.2771 trillion yuan, or 711 trillion won. That placed it among the top memory companies globally in terms of corporate value, behind Samsung Electronics at about 1,629 trillion won, SK hynix at about 1,294 trillion won, and Micron at about 1,528 trillion won. From its first day on the market, CXMT was valued on par with major global memory firms, and its market influence is expected to expand further.
CXMT will channel the funds raised through the IPO into expanding production capacity and securing advanced memory technologies. It plans to invest about 7.5 billion yuan, or 1.62 trillion won, in upgrading its memory wafer production lines, and 13 billion yuan, or 2.8207 trillion won, in a next-generation DRAM technology upgrade project. In addition, it will allocate about 9 billion yuan to future memory technology research and development (R&D), stepping up efforts to strengthen its technological competitiveness.

Industry observers say the listing is more than a fundraising event and could mark the beginning of a full-scale push for China's memory self-reliance strategy. With U.S. restrictions on Chinese semiconductors still in place, the move is seen as a strategy to expand production capacity and advance technology at the same time, supported by the government and capital markets.
That is also raising concern in South Korea's memory industry. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have maintained their technological edge in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and advanced DRAM, but if CXMT continues to expand capacity and R&D investment after this listing, price competition could intensify, especially in the commodity DRAM market.
[email protected] Lim Su-bin, Lee Dong-hyeok Reporter