China's sole mass-production DRAM maker files for IPO as memory upcycle lift...

by YIN Jinglin, CHEN Huidong

China's only maker with large-scale DRAM production capability, ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), has filed for an initial public offering on Shanghai's STAR Market, as a global memory upcycle driven by artificial intelligence demand begins to lift its earnings outlook.

The IPO comes at a critical moment for the DRAM industry, which is dominated by Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Micron Technology, together accounting for about 94% of global market share. CXMT is currently the only Chinese company capable of mass-producing DRAM chips, making its listing closely watched by investors.

Industry observers say the timing reflects a narrow window in which latecomers can raise capital while demand and pricing are strong. For hardware-intensive semiconductor firms, IPOs often serve as critical funding moments, said HUANG Lichong, president of Wilson International Capital, in comments to Jiemian News, adding that scale expansion and process upgrades must be financed quickly before industry cycles turn.

CXMT focuses on the design, manufacturing and sale of DRAM products, including DDR and LPDDR series, supplying wafers, chips and modules used in servers, mobile devices, PCs and smart vehicles.

Despite rapid expansion, the company has endured prolonged losses. From 2022 to the first three quarters of 2025, CXMT recorded cumulative losses of roughly 37 billion yuan, weighed down by heavy capital expenditure, high depreciation and sustained research spending typical of a latecomer in a capital- and technology-intensive industry.

Revenue has nevertheless expanded rapidly. CXMT reported revenue of 8.29 billion yuan in 2022, 9.09 billion yuan in 2023 and 24.18 billion yuan in 2024. In the first three quarters of 2025, revenue surged to 32.08 billion yuan, up 97.8% year on year, while losses continued to narrow.

The improvement coincided with a sharp rebound in DRAM prices driven by AI-related demand. Prices for DDR5 32GB modules rose from around $135 in July 2025 to a peak of $450 by January 2026, before easing to about $380, according to CFM Flash data.

Rising prices and the ramp-up of DDR5 production since late 2024 lifted CXMT's gross margin, which turned positive in 2024 and reached 12.7% in the first half of 2025. The company said gross margin exceeded 30% in the third quarter, while falling unit costs reflected scale efficiencies.

In the third quarter of 2025, CXMT reported positive adjusted net profit, an early milestone after years of losses.

Analysts caution that the recovery remains highly sensitive to industry cycles. While AI demand has tightened DRAM supply, the most profitable segment, high-bandwidth memory used in AI accelerators, remains controlled by the three global leaders. CXMT has yet to enter mass production of HBM products, and its process technology still trails the most advanced nodes.

Capacity constraints remain. CXMT operates three 12-inch wafer fabs in Hefei and Beijing, with utilization rates exceeding 90%. Building new fabs would require hundreds of billions of yuan and face uncertainty over access to advanced lithography equipment.

DRAM remains a highly cyclical, commodity-like business. Global leaders are already planning higher capital spending in fiscal 2026, focusing on DDR5, enterprise SSDs and next-generation HBM, raising the risk of another downturn once new supply comes online.

CXMT plans to raise 29.5 billion yuan from the IPO, with proceeds mainly earmarked for process upgrades, DRAM technology improvements and forward-looking research and development rather than new fabs. Analysts view this as a cautious attempt to improve efficiency at existing plants while limiting balance-sheet risk.

As of mid-2025, CXMT's debt ratio stood at 57.7%, with long-term borrowings exceeding 120 billion yuan, underscoring the financial leverage inherent in memory manufacturing.

Ahead of the listing, CXMT's latest private funding round in June 2025 implied a valuation of roughly 158.4 billion yuan. Some investors compare the company with SMIC and other capital-intensive semiconductor manufacturers, valuing it on a price-to-sales basis, while warning that memory stocks often peak near the top of the cycle.