Chinese chipmaker CXMT Corp pulled off Asia’s largest IPO of the year so far, raising $8.6 billion, but investor enthusiasm fell short of the frenzy seen in recent Chinese technology listings, according to a Sunday filing — a sign that a global chip stock selloff is weighing on market sentiment.
Institutional investors — including mutual funds, pension funds, and insurance companies — put in orders for a combined 1.24 trillion shares against the 2.17 billion shares made available to them. That works out to an oversubscription rate of around 570 times, which analysts would consider strong under normal conditions.
However, the figure pales in comparison to other recent listings on Shanghai’s STAR Market. Shares offered by Zhuhai Trinomab Pharmaceutical Co, Chongqing Genori Technology Co, and Wuhan Changjin Photonics were each oversubscribed by more than 5,000 times by institutional buyers.
The cooler reception follows an earlier announcement that the retail portion of CXMT’s IPO was oversubscribed 243.93 times — also lower than recent benchmarks — further signaling that investor appetite has softened.
The backdrop is a sharp global selloff in chip stocks, as investors from South Korea to Silicon Valley begin questioning whether the artificial intelligence boom has become overextended. In China specifically, the STAR Market — which is home to many of the country’s top semiconductor companies — has fallen roughly 25% from its July 1 peak, erasing more than 4 trillion yuan, or approximately $590 billion, in market value.
CXMT holds the position of the world’s fourth-largest maker of DRAM chips, trailing only Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology. DRAM, which stands for dynamic random-access memory, is a critical component found in smartphones, computers, servers, and a wide range of other electronics. Demand for the chips has surged alongside the AI boom.
The company has not officially announced a listing date on the STAR Market, though sources told Reuters the stock is expected to begin trading on July 27. The debut will be closely watched as Beijing continues to push for greater self-reliance in technology amid its ongoing rivalry with Washington, with several other major IPOs expected to follow.
