Companies / CXMT
Memory chipmaker
CXMT
State of play as of
China’s largest domestic maker of DRAM: the ordinary memory the AI build-out turned scarce, and a company the US blacklist has so far left alone.
ChangXin Memory Technologies (长鑫存储), known as CXMT, is China’s first and largest domestic maker of DRAM, the ordinary working memory in every phone, laptop and server. It matters because the AI build-out inverted the memory market: the big three makers, Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron, converted their capacity to high-margin high-bandwidth memory for AI accelerators and left the commodity market short, so the maker with spare DRAM capacity and a price to beat suddenly held leverage. That maker is the one Washington has spent two years trying to keep down. We track what CXMT ships, the deals it signs, and where its numbers are disputed, with dates and sources, and we flag the capacity, HBM and revenue figures that are targets or estimates rather than disclosures.
Fast facts
- What it is
- China’s largest domestic DRAM maker (the standard working memory in phones, laptops and servers), and the first Chinese DRAM maker heading to a public listing.
- Turnaround
- Swung to a roughly 24.76 billion yuan ($3.4 billion) net profit in Q1 2026, more than its combined losses across 2023 and 2024, after losing about 5.98 billion yuan over the first nine months of 2025. The memory shortage drove it.Huxiu, via CAD
- STAR Market debut
- Debuted on Shanghai’s STAR Market on 27 July 2026 at an 8.66-yuan IPO price, opening up about 471 percent and reaching roughly 3.66 trillion yuan (about $500 billion) by midday, passing ICBC to become the most valuable company on China’s mainland exchanges and the first semiconductor to top the A-share market in its 35-year history. The 57.9-billion-yuan raise (about $8.55 billion) is the largest mainland semiconductor IPO on record and the second-largest mainland listing since Agricultural Bank of China in 2010.TechNode, TMTPost, via CAD
- Tencent deal
- Signed a roughly 20 billion yuan ($2.94 billion) long-term DRAM supply agreement with Tencent, one of the largest domestic chip-procurement commitments in years, ahead of the planned listing.TechNode
- DRAM products
- Ships DDR4 and DDR5 built on its own process, developed around the incumbents’ patent walls and without EUV lithography; sells DDR5 to Western brands at prices under Samsung and Micron.via CAD (Huxiu, the-supplier)
- HBM timeline
- Still ships HBM2 (the type AI accelerators use) while Korea sells HBM3E. Earlier reporting put its HBM arrival at 2027, and listing-day coverage put advanced-HBM volume at 2028; either way it stayed pointed at ordinary DRAM in the year everyone else converted to HBM. Treat the dates as reported, not a CXMT roadmap disclosure.via CAD (the-supplier; the-coronation)
- US status
- On the Pentagon’s 1260H list of Chinese military companies (a reputational and defense-contracting bar), but not on the Commerce Department’s Entity List, so selling memory to Western buyers is currently legal. An interagency committee has cleared it for the Entity List; Commerce has not acted.Bloomberg, Financial Times, via CAD
- Capacity
- Reported to be building toward about 300,000 wafers a month, with a full-capacity target of 600,000 to 700,000 wafers a month cited around the IPO. These are targets and estimates, not confirmed output.via CAD (the-supplier; two-memory-markets)
The state of play
CXMT made its Shanghai STAR Market debut on 27 July 2026. Priced at 8.66 yuan, the stock opened at 49.50, up about 471 percent, after retail investors bid for more than 200 times the shares on offer, and reached 54.65 by the midday break, up 531 percent, valuing the company at about 3.66 trillion yuan (roughly $500 billion). It passed ICBC to become the most valuable company on China’s mainland exchanges, briefly worth more than Tencent, and the first semiconductor to top the A-share market in its 35-year history. Its global DRAM share had risen from about 3.97 percent in mid-2025 to 7.67 percent by year-end, the fourth-largest in the world. The caution is that the market is pricing sovereignty, not earnings: CXMT still ships HBM2 while Korea sells HBM3E, its advanced high-bandwidth-memory lines are reported not to reach volume until 2028, and the turnaround rests on a DRAM price spike that has always reversed. It carries about 183 billion yuan of fixed assets and more than 10 billion yuan of annual depreciation, and Goldman Sachs sees the shortage running through 2027 while Bloomberg Intelligence sees oversupply returning by 2028.
CXMT priced its STAR Market IPO at 8.66 yuan a share, raising about 57.9 billion yuan (roughly $8.55 billion, rising to about 66.6 billion if the over-allotment is exercised) at an issue value near 580 billion yuan, and set a 27 July debut. It is Asia’s largest IPO of 2026 and the largest A-share semiconductor listing on record, ahead of SMIC in 2020. The listing entity is CXMT’s parent, ChangXin Technology (长鑫科技). Retail demand was extreme: 9,428,800 households subscribed for a 0.4714 percent win-rate, a STAR Market record and about 15 times the year’s average, and DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng took the single largest private-fund allocation, about 175 million yuan across 194 funds. The gains are still conditional: trading starts 27 July, and brokers’ post-listing valuations run a very wide 1 to 4.25 trillion yuan, into a month when global and A-share memory stocks sold off 40 to 50 percent from their highs.
CXMT signed a roughly 20 billion yuan ($2.94 billion) long-term DRAM supply agreement with Tencent, one of the largest domestic chip-procurement commitments in years, struck ahead of its planned Shanghai STAR Market listing. It landed the same week Apple was reported to be lobbying Washington for clearance to buy DRAM from CXMT as global memory prices spiked. Memory is a cost line that runs straight into every AI inference bill, and the maker with spare commodity capacity is the one signing multi-billion-dollar contracts.
Apple was reported to be lobbying the US administration for clearance to buy memory chips from CXMT, the day after a memory-driven price hike wiped roughly $275 billion off Apple’s market value. The distinction matters: CXMT sits on the Pentagon’s 1260H list of Chinese military companies (a reputational and defense-contracting bar), not the Commerce Entity List, so buying from it today is legal. An interagency committee had already cleared CXMT to be added to the Entity List, but Commerce has not updated that list since October 2025, the longest pause in a decade, because the US and China are mid-negotiation. Apple is lobbying not for permission to buy, but for Washington not to take the supplier away.
CXMT is China’s largest maker of standard DRAM, reported to be building toward about 300,000 wafers a month, already shipping DDR5 to Western brands at prices under Samsung and Micron. Its own high-bandwidth memory (HBM) slipped to 2027. In a year when the big three converted their commodity lines to the higher-margin HBM that AI accelerators need and left the ordinary-memory market short, being the one large maker still pointed at standard DRAM is exactly what left CXMT with capacity to sell. (The wafer figure is a reported target, and the HBM date is as reported, not a CXMT disclosure.)
CXMT cleared Shanghai’s STAR Market listing committee in a unanimous vote, with bankers from CICC and CITIC Securities, becoming the first domestic DRAM maker headed to a public market. Reporting put the raise at about 29.5 billion yuan, roughly 13 billion earmarked for DRAM technology upgrades and 9 billion for HBM R&D, with a full-capacity target of 600,000 to 700,000 wafers a month that would place it in the same production tier as Samsung and SK Hynix. A Huxiu analyst framed CXMT’s route, building its own DDR4 and DDR5 process around the incumbents’ patent walls and without EUV, as an 阳谋, an open strategy rivals can see but cannot easily counter. (The raise, capacity and timeline figures are drawn from the filing and analyst breakdowns, and should be read as targets rather than results.)
A Huxiu breakdown showed CXMT swinging to a roughly 24.76 billion yuan ($3.4 billion) net profit in the first quarter of 2026, more than its combined losses across all of 2023 and 2024, after losing about 5.98 billion yuan over the first nine months of 2025. Standard-DRAM contract prices had jumped sharply as AI servers, which need far more memory per box, pulled the big makers toward HBM and left the commodity market short. The maker everyone expected to be a laggard posted the turnaround.
Our reporting on CXMT
- The Coronation
CXMT opened its Shanghai debut up 471 percent and reached about 500 billion dollars by midday, passing ICBC to become the most valuable company on China’s mainland exchanges, the first semiconductor to top the A-share market in its 35-year history.
- The Allotment
Nine and a half million retail households piled into CXMT’s STAR Market IPO at a record 0.4714 percent win-rate, and DeepSeek’s Liang Wenfeng took the single largest private-fund allocation in China’s biggest chip listing since SMIC.
- The Toll Booth
CXMT signed a 2.94 billion dollar long-term DRAM deal with Tencent, one of the largest domestic chip-procurement commitments in years, ahead of its Shanghai listing.
- The Supplier
An interagency committee cleared CXMT for the US Entity List, but Commerce has not updated it since October 2025, the longest pause in a decade, because the two sides are mid-negotiation.
- Two Memory Markets
CXMT, China’s first domestic DRAM maker, cleared its STAR Market listing review, aiming to raise about 29.5 billion yuan for DRAM upgrades and HBM R&D by building its own process around the incumbents’ patent walls.
- Conceded
On Nvidia’s earnings call, Jensen Huang said the quiet part out loud: China revenue is essentially zero, and the company has "largely conceded" the market to Huawei.
These link to the full issues on the newsletter. New pieces go out in the daily first.
Common questions
What is CXMT?
CXMT (ChangXin Memory Technologies, 长鑫存储) is China’s largest domestic maker of DRAM, the standard working memory used in phones, laptops and servers. It built its own DDR4 and DDR5 process around the incumbents’ patent walls and without EUV lithography, now ships DDR5 to Western brands at prices under Samsung and Micron, and in 2026 became the first Chinese DRAM maker cleared to head for a public listing.
Is CXMT on the US Entity List?
No, not as of mid-2026. CXMT sits on the Pentagon’s 1260H list of Chinese military companies, which is a reputational and defense-contracting bar, not a ban on selling memory. It is not on the Commerce Department’s Entity List, the one that would require an export license, so buying from CXMT is currently legal. An interagency committee cleared it to be added to the Entity List, but Commerce has not updated that list since October 2025, the longest pause in a decade, per Bloomberg and the Financial Times as carried by CAD.
Why does Apple want to buy from CXMT?
Because ordinary memory got scarce. As the AI build-out pushed Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron to convert capacity to high-margin HBM for AI accelerators, standard DRAM prices spiked, and CXMT is a large maker with spare commodity capacity and a lower price. In June 2026 Apple was reported to be lobbying Washington for clearance to keep buying DRAM from CXMT, per the Financial Times and Bloomberg as carried by CAD.
Does CXMT make HBM?
Not yet at scale. CXMT’s high-bandwidth memory, the type AI accelerators use, was reported to have slipped to 2027, and its IPO plans earmark roughly 9 billion yuan for HBM R&D. As of mid-2026 its business is standard DRAM, not HBM. Treat the HBM timeline as reported rather than a confirmed CXMT roadmap.
Is CXMT publicly traded?
Yes, as of 27 July 2026. CXMT priced its Shanghai STAR Market IPO at 8.66 yuan a share, raising about 57.9 billion yuan (roughly $8.55 billion), and debuted that day. The stock opened up about 471 percent and reached roughly 3.66 trillion yuan (about $500 billion) by midday, passing ICBC to become the most valuable company on China’s mainland exchanges and the first semiconductor to top the A-share market in its 35-year history. The listing vehicle is CXMT’s parent, ChangXin Technology (长鑫科技), and the 57.9-billion-yuan raise is the largest mainland semiconductor IPO on record.
Every dated fact above traces to a named source, and where it comes from our reporting, to the dated issue that carried it. Where a claim is self-reported or disputed, we say so.