CXMT’s blockbuster IPO will test whether China’s memory makers are ready for the spotlight: ‘It does not yet mean China is broadly catching up’

Chinese chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies, or CXMT, became the country’s most valuable company almost overnight. CXMT’s shares surged over 500% in its Shanghai debut last Monday (July 27) and rallied throughout the week, jumping 8.95% on Friday to close at 57.60 yuan ($8.50). Its market capitalization also hit 3.54 trillion yuan ($523 billion) by the week’s end, toppling reigning chart leader, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. 

Yet experts are split on whether the rise in CXMT’s stock price is a temporary boost fueled by AI-driven memory shortages, or a long-term shift in global AI supply chains where Chinese chipmakers are now coming to the fore.

“China is clearly becoming a more important memory chip player, but this is happening in a market distorted by AI demand, supply shortages and state-backed industrial policy,” says Barbora Valockova, a research fellow at Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. “It does not yet mean China is broadly catching up to the leaders across the full chip stack.”

A...