CXMT Surges 466% on Debut, Overtakes ICBC
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- CXMT shares surged nearly 466% on Shanghai's STAR Market debut, closing at 49 yuan after an 8.66 yuan IPO price and reaching a ~3.3 trillion yuan market cap that overtook ICBC's 2.6 trillion yuan.
- CXMT raised 57.92 billion yuan (~$8.6 billion) in the offering, making it Asia's biggest IPO year-to-date.
- Based on Q4 2025 sales, CXMT held 7.67% of the global DRAM market, which remains dominated by Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology.
- CXMT swung to a 35.43 billion yuan operating profit in Q1 from a 2.83 billion yuan loss a year earlier, citing growing global computing power demand.
- Apple has begun testing CXMT's DRAM chips for devices sold in China, per earlier-month reports.
- Morningstar called CXMT a likely key beneficiary of AI as a Chinese national-security priority, predicting domestic internet giants will drive adoption even though CXMT's technology still trails global memory leaders.
- Yiyi Capital CEO Theodore Shou warned the market sits at peak demand/supply imbalance for memory chips and that today's elevated margins are not sustainable over a cycle.
Why it matters: CXMT's 3.3 trillion yuan debut hands Beijing a state-backed national champion in DRAM, a market still dominated by Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron. Morningstar expects domestic AI giants to absorb CXMT's chips despite a tech gap, while the $8.6 billion raise gives the newcomer capital to pressure the three incumbents.
