Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT), a major DRAM manufacturer in China, has decided to hold off on its planned IPO due to volatile market conditions — to some degree the same uncertainties surrounding Chinese chip manufacturing in general. Instead, the company is looking to raise money from investors aiming for a valuation of about ¥140 billion ($19.5 billion), reports Bloomberg .
The company had its eyes set on launching its IPO on the Shanghai STAR board in 2023 and even rearranged its shareholder structure to get ready. But after talking it over with regulators and potential investors, Changxin is choosing to play it safe and wait for a better time. The company is now exploring other ways to fund its growth, as it's adopting new memory technologies and needs to deploy new fabrication tools.
Changxin isn't just any chip manufacturer, it's China's largest domestic DRAM manufacturer and can be considered a key part of China's ambition to achieve technology self-sufficiency. For now, CXMT is significantly behind industry heavyweights like Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix in terms of process technologies (down to 17nm) and manufacturing capacity. But CXMT certainly wants to catch up and sees this funding round as a stepping stone to more advanced tech in the future.
Changxin's decision to delay its IPO is influenced by both internal and external factors. While investor interest in the company is still being assessed, there's a general increase in Chinese investor confidence in local technology firms, particularly those aligned with the Chinese government's ambitions to develop a self-reliant tech industry. However, challenges persist, such as U.S. sanctions on Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC), which affects the broader semiconductor industry in China.
This hold-up with the IPO is not just a Changxin decision, as many other companies are thinking twice about going public right now, reports Bloomberg. Another example is the Swiss company Syngenta, which pushed back its massive $9 billion IPO in Shanghai to the end of 2024.
Anton Shilov is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.
