CXMT stock soars 472% in debut as chipmaker becomes China’s most valuable

CXMT stock surged nearly 470% at its Shanghai debut on Monday, propelling the Chinese memory-chip maker to the top of mainland China’s stock-market rankings.

The historic debut exposed a striking gap between its strategic importance and the valuation investors assigned within minutes.

The stock opened at 49.50 yuan, almost six times its 8.66-yuan IPO price.

The early move lifted CXMT’s market capitalisation to about 3.3 trillion yuan, or $487 billion, allowing it to overtake Industrial and Commercial Bank of China as the most valuable company listed in mainland China.

CXMT’s debut rewrites China’s market rankings

The company raised 57.92 billion yuan, about $8.6 billion, in Asia’s largest IPO of 2026. Proceeds could increase if an over-allotment option is exercised.

CXMT, formally known as ChangXin Memory Technologies, is the world’s fourth-largest producer of dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM.

It held an estimated 7.7% market share in 2025, behind Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Micron.

Its chips are used in smartphones, computers, and servers that support cloud computing and artificial intelligence workloads.

That gives CXMT a central role in Beijing’s effort to reduce dependence on foreign semiconductor suppliers.

Yet the first-day valuation came with an important technical qualification as only 6.73% of CXMT’s enlarged share capital was freely tradable at listing because most shares remained locked up.

The limited float reduced the supply available to buyers and may have amplified the opening jump.

That means the 3.3-trillion-yuan valuation was established through trading in a relatively small portion of the company’s shares.

AI memory shortage drives the bullish case

Investors entered the listing expecting strong memory-chip demand to support CXMT’s earnings and expansion.

“Memory supply is still not enough,” Nomura Greater China semiconductor analyst Donnie Teng told Reuters before the debut, citing unprecedented demand from the AI industry.

Teng said the market could absorb the IPO’s liquidity impact while hyperscalers continued investing and AI demand remained structurally positive.

Eddie Tam, chief investment officer at Central Asset Investments, also told Reuters before trading began that CXMT’s IPO valuation looked inexpensive despite China remaining two to four years behind leading DRAM and high-bandwidth-memory producers.

He expected the shares to “surge several-fold” on their first day.

Shenzhen Deyuan Investment fund manager Wu Zhou had forecast a valuation above 3 trillion yuan, with a possible path to 5 trillion yuan.

Wu said that CXMT could become a “global giant” as capacity expands and it challenges Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron.

Those pre-debut comments explain the optimism behind the opening price, but they are not fresh endorsements of the stock at 49.50 yuan.