Chinese memory chipmaker CXMT File Photo: VCG

China's largest memory chip producer ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) will debut on Shanghai's STAR Market on Monday, marking a historic shift for the country's memory chip industry from technological catch-up to large-scale expansion, experts said.

China's CXMT is expected to raise about 57.9 billion yuan ($8.55 billion) before ⁠any over-allotment option in its initial public offering (IPO) on Shanghai's STAR Market, the company said ⁠in a filing.

The IPO will be Asia's largest so far this year and the biggest Chinese A-share semiconductor offering ever, surpassing chipmaker SMIC's share sale in 2020, according to Reuters. 

Ma Jihua, a veteran telecom industry analyst, told the Global Times that CXMT's emergence gives China a homegrown DRAM producer capable of competing with global leaders.

Ma said that the reported plan to invest more than 50 billion yuan raised from the listing in domestic memory-chip projects — including upgrades to 12-inch DRAM wafer production lines and research into high-bandwidth memory and automotive-grade storage — would accelerate technological upgrades and significantly expand production capacity, potentially enabling CXMT to challenge the industry's top three and reshape the global market.

Chen Jing, vice president of the Technology and Strategy Research Institute, told the Global Times that CXMT's rise means China has for the first time established a globally competitive memory chip producer with strong capital, production capacity and technological capabilities.

The global DRAM market has long been dominated by Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Micron, Chen said. 

CXMT's listing has also lifted confidence in China's hard-tech sector, Chen said. After a decade of heavy investment, losses and external restrictions, the company is now expected to post annual profits of more than 100 billion yuan, showing that long-term bets on core technologies can deliver outsized returns.

Chen described CXMT as a market reshaper rather than a disruptor. Its expansion is unlikely to trigger a price war or reverse the current DRAM upcycle, though it could slow the pace of price increases, Chen said. 

Apple CEO Tim Cook and top executives have pitched US President Donald Trump and officials on a plan to use memory chips from China's CXMT and Yangtze Memory Technologies in Apple products sold outside the US, people familiar with the discussions said, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Experts said that amid intensifying external technology restrictions and supply chain competition, CXMT's listing will provide crucial capital support for China's pursuit of hard technologies. The IPO not only reflects the country's strategic push to strengthen core technologies, but also signals that Chinese memory chip producers have developed the capability to compete with global industry leaders, boosting confidence in building a more secure digital infrastructure, experts said.

China produced 279.8 billion integrated circuits in the first half of the year, up 23.1 percent year-on-year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday. That translates to an average daily output of more than 1.5 billion units. 

The global artificial intelligence boom has unleashed surging demand for advanced computing and memory chips, while China's upstream semiconductor supply chain is expanding rapidly to support the sector's continued growth, Ma said.