It’s not unusual for an IPO to “pop” on its first day of trading. Underwriters typically price new issues conservatively to guarantee adequate demand. But newly listed shares of Chinese DRAM supplier ChangXin Memory Technologies (SHSE: 688825), better known as CXMT, rocketed 466% higher on their first day of trading on the Shanghai exchange.
That price performance is just another indication of the excitement around memory chip stocks like Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) and SK Hynix (NASDAQ: SKHY). And investors in leading memory chipmakers may be wondering how the Chinese competitor could affect them after its recent capital injection.
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The fourth mega memory chipmaker
While it seemingly left money on the table, the CXMT IPO raised at least $8.6 billion for the company. If the company exercises its option to sell additional shares, it could push that total close to $10 billion.
CXMT is capitalizing on the severe DRAM chip shortage driven by massive demand from artificial intelligence (AI) build-outs. As SK Hynix, Micron, and Samsung dedicate more capacity to high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which is essentially stacks of DRAM chips, CXMT has been able to increase its prices and gain market share. Its bit share of the DRAM market expanded to 8% in the first quarter, up from 3% in the first quarter of 2025, according to Counterpoint Research.
As a result, profits soared to approximately $3.66 billion in the first quarter as revenue increased 7.5-fold. Additionally, it signed long-term deals with ByteDance and Tencent totaling $10 billion.
That is to say, CXMT has growing cash reserves. How CXMT uses that cash could have a meaningful impact on its competition. In its IPO prospectus, CXMT says it plans to use half its fresh capital to upgrade and expand its DRAM production, but makes no mention of plans to expand its HBM efforts, which currently account for a small single-digit percentage of its total production.
CXMT has been playing with a handicap. Import restrictions prevent it from using the most advanced wafer-fabrication equipment, resulting in a significant gap between its chips and those of the competition. CXMT has made technological innovations to close the gap created by its physical limitations, but further improvements may come more slowly. That’s especially true, given that advanced HBM chip production requires cutting-edge equipment that’s impossible to acquire in China. CXMT is expected to ship HBM3 chips this year, approximately four years behind SK Hynix.
