Changxin Memory Tech surges 465% on debut, market cap reaches 3.2 trillion yuan

Changxin Memory Technology surged 465% on its A-share debut, closing with a market capitalization of 3.2 trillion yuan, surpassing Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to become the highest-valued company on the A-share market. Full-day trading volume exceeded 140 billion yuan, setting a record as the first A-share stock to surpass 100 billion yuan in single-day trading volume. Based on the closing price, retail investors who secured one lot could profit about 20,000 yuan. A total of 93 public mutual funds were allocated 1.234 billion shares, with unrealized paper gains approaching 50 billion yuan. The company also benefited significantly: seven senior executives saw their net worth exceed 1 billion yuan each, more than 6,700 person-times benefited from employee shareholding, and at least 237 millionaires were created in a single day.

On the same day, South Korea's KOSPI index plunged again, with losses rapidly widening to 9% after trading resumed. SK Hynix fell over 12%, and Samsung Electronics dropped more than 10%. From its peak, the KOSPI index has retraced 35.5%, and SK Hynix's share price has nearly halved. In the same chip sector, the market performances on opposite sides of the sea formed a stark contrast.

Looking back, on November 5, 2007, PetroChina listed on the A-share market at an IPO price of 16.70 yuan, closing its first day at 43.96 yuan, up 163.2% from the IPO price. Based on total A-share share capital, PetroChina's A-share market cap that day was about 7.12 trillion yuan, making it the highest-valued A-share company, also surpassing ICBC. Based on the first-day closing price, retail investors with one lot could earn about 27,300 yuan. On the day of PetroChina's listing, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.50%, and the Hang Seng Index plunged 5.01%, dropping 1,526 points in a single day, setting a record for the largest single-day point decline at that time. In the nearly two decades since, PetroChina's share price has never returned above 40 yuan.

Changxin Memory Technology was founded in 2016. In the first quarter of 2026, revenue was 50.8 billion yuan, up 719% year-on-year, net profit was 33.012 billion yuan, and net profit margin reached 65%. This net profit level exceeded CATL's 22.737 billion yuan in the same period, making it the most profitable manufacturing company on the A-share market. As of the first half of 2025, Changxin had accumulated losses of about 40.86 billion yuan over the past nine years, but it nearly covered all those losses in just one quarter.

The memory industry has entered a super cycle. Samsung and SK Hynix's HBM capacity through 2026 is fully sold out. Data from the Korea Customs Service shows that as of May 10, the unit price of bare DRAM chips reached 89,498 US dollars per kilogram, surging nearly 500% year-on-year.

The KOSPI index began to decline after hitting an all-time high on June 19. As of July 27, over the past 26 trading days, the Korean stock market triggered 17 intraday trading halts and 4 market circuit breakers, with the index falling 28% in one month. Goldman Sachs estimates that as of July 13, over 1.2 million retail investors' leveraged credit accounts on the Korean market had triggered margin calls, and about 320,000 to 360,000 accounts had been forcibly liquidated by brokerages. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are still profitable, and the memory cycle is not over, but market sentiment has shifted.