1. CCSH Corp., the parent of Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. Ltd. (YMTC), China’s leading NAND flash-memory maker, is seeking to raise 33 billion yuan ($4.9 billion) in a Shanghai listing. [para. 1] The Shanghai Stock Exchange accepted its STAR Market application on Friday, according to a notice. [para. 2] The company plans to sell 1.98 billion to 2.43 billion shares, representing 10% to 12% of its enlarged share capital, implying a post-IPO valuation of as much as 330 billion yuan. [para. 2]
2. Of the total proceeds, 20.8 billion yuan is earmarked for production-line upgrades and 12.2 billion yuan for research and development. [para. 3] The fundraising target exceeds the 29.5 billion yuan that rival CXMT initially sought before its STAR Market listing last month. [para. 4] CXMT ultimately raised 66.6 billion yuan in the largest IPO in STAR Market history, and its shares jumped fivefold within the first hour of trading. [para. 4]
3. The two companies are China’s leading domestic challengers in memory chips: CXMT makes DRAM, while YMTC focuses on NAND flash. [para. 5] Both are integrated device manufacturers, handling chip design, wafer manufacturing and packaging and testing. [para. 5] The listing comes under the theme “Profit surges as memory prices climb,” reflecting strong industry tailwinds. [para. 6]
4. CCSH’s listing is driven by surging earnings at wholly owned YMTC, which generates more than 90% of CCSH’s revenue, amid an AI-driven global memory-chip shortage. [para. 7] CCSH’s revenue rose 40% in 2025 to 63.2 billion yuan, after more than doubling in 2024. [para. 7] Profit reached 14.2 billion yuan in 2025. [para. 7] In the first quarter of 2026, revenue reached 47 billion yuan and profit jumped to 33.4 billion yuan. [para. 7]
5. Global memory supply has tightened since the third quarter of 2025 as AI data-center spending surged. [para. 8] Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron have said much of their 2026 capacity is already sold, with tight supply expected to persist into 2027. [para. 8]
6. The article then profiles YMTC as “A challenger.” [para. 9] YMTC was founded in 2016 on the foundation of Wuhan Xinxin Semiconductor Manufacturing. [para. 10] Its first two NAND production phases, with combined capacity of about 160,000 wafers a month, are operating at full capacity. [para. 10] A third phase, scheduled to begin production by the end of this year, is designed to add another 100,000 wafers a month. [para. 11]
7. YMTC’s core technology is its proprietary Xtacking architecture, which manufactures peripheral circuitry and memory arrays on separate wafers before bonding them together. [para. 12] It began mass-producing 128-layer 3D NAND in 2021 and 232-layer products in 2022, and is now moving toward products with more than 300 layers. [para. 12]
8. U.S. export controls imposed in late 2022 restricted China’s access to equipment and technology used for advanced NAND production and placed YMTC on the Entity List, disrupting its expansion. [para. 13] Even so, YMTC has continued to gain ground. [para. 14] Counterpoint Research estimated that it captured 14% of global NAND shipments in the second quarter, moving into third place worldwide behind Samsung and SK Hynix. [para. 14]
9. YMTC ranks lower by revenue because its product mix remains weighted toward consumer applications rather than higher-priced enterprise solid-state drives used in data centers. [para. 15]
AI generated, for reference only
Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook
Sign in with 财新