Chinese chipmaker sets Shanghai IPO price
ChangXin Memory Technologies, China's leading DRAM memory chipmaker, priced its long-awaited Shanghai initial public offering on Tuesday, paving the way for subscriptions in what is expected to become one of the country's largest semiconductor listings as Beijing accelerates its push for AI chip self-sufficiency.
CXMT is expected to raise 57.9 billion yuan ($8.1 billion) before the greenshoe option is exercised, giving it an implied market capitalization of about 579.2 billion yuan. The deal ranks among the largest semiconductor IPOs ever on Shanghai's STAR Market.
The company set the offer price at 8.66 yuan per share and will open simultaneous online and institutional subscriptions on Thursday, according to its final offering documents.
The pricing values the company at a static price-to-earnings ratio well above industry averages, underscoring investor optimism over China's leading domestic DRAM producer as artificial intelligence fuels a global surge in demand for memory chips.
CXMT plans to issue 6.69 billion new shares, representing about 10 percent of its enlarged share capital. The lead underwriter, China International Capital Corporation, has the option to exercise a 15 percent overallotment, or greenshoe, which would further increase the size of the offering.
The IPO has attracted a broad lineup of strategic investors spanning China's semiconductor supply chain and downstream technology industries in a sign of Beijing's determination to strengthen domestic AI infrastructure.
Strategic investors include semiconductor companies Montage Technology, ESWIN Materials, Piotech, Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. China, Anji Microelectronics and TongFu Microelectronics.
Downstream technology and manufacturing companies participating in the strategic placement include Xiaomi, Alibaba Cloud, ZTE, Huaqin Technology, Transsion Holdings, TCL, NIO and Chery Automobile, reflecting demand from AI computing, smartphones, cloud services, telecommunications and smart vehicles.
