The most compelling narrative in capital markets is a bet that endures losses, only to realize hundreds of billions in returns when the IPO bell rings.

On July 27, 2026, the "memory chip leader" Cxmt Corporation (stock code: 688825.SH) officially debuted on the STAR Market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. On its first day of trading, the stock surged 471.59% from its IPO price of 8.66 yuan per share to 49.5 yuan, pushing its total market capitalization beyond 3.3 trillion yuan and making it the largest A-share company by market value.

As of 10:00 AM, the trading volume of Cxmt Corporation had exceeded 900 billion yuan, reaching 900.86 billion yuan, setting a new single-day record for individual stock turnover in A-share history. This surpassed the previous record of 900.38 billion yuan set by East Money on October 9, 2024.

The company's 66.6 billion yuan fundraising effort established the largest IPO in the A-share market for the year. With 9.42 million retail investors eager to buy in, the lottery allocation rate was a mere 0.47%, making this new stock offering a "one-in-a-million" event. Winning one allotment was equivalent to making a profit of 20,000 yuan.

From the acceptance of its IPO application on December 30, 2025, to its listing on July 27, 2026, the process took over 200 days. As the first "pre-reviewed" IPO project in the domestic capital market, Cxmt Corporation achieved the fastest listing acceleration this year.

Looking back at its shareholder list, it reads like a "family portrait" of Chinese semiconductor capital. Hefei state-owned capital placed the initial bet, Alibaba invested 7.6 billion yuan mid-way, and industry giants like Tencent, Meituan, Xiaomi, TCL, NIO, and ZTE followed suit. Even Liang Wenfeng from DeepSeek entered the new stock lottery list with 194 funds. Finally, 9.42 million retail investors joined in. The participation of nearly 10 million people transformed this IPO from a "capital feast" into a "national event."

Behind Cxmt Corporation stands "the toughest man in the chip industry," Zhu Yiming, the founder of GigaDevice. With a net worth of 12 billion yuan, he secured a spot on the Hurun Rich List. In January 2026, he completed the "A+H" dual-listing strategy for GigaDevice.

The company's executives also benefited. Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Huang Danyang holds 36.28 million shares, valued at approximately 1.796 billion yuan at the current stock price. Board Secretary Yuan Yuan holds about 20.26 million shares, valued at around 1.003 billion yuan. Additionally, 6,760 employees hold shares through two phases of equity incentive plans, with some employees holding shares worth tens of millions. In one night, Cxmt Corporation created a wave of new wealth.

In this IPO, some bet on capital, some on their careers, and some on the breakthrough opportunity for domestic memory chips. In the end, they all won their bets.

A Business Model That Endured Over 30 Billion Yuan in Losses Over Three Years, Then Earned Over 50 Billion in Half a Year

Cxmt Corporation produces DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) chips, the components used in smartphones and computers to store data. Globally, only four companies can produce general-purpose DRAM: Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, and Cxmt Corporation. It is the only Integrated Device Manufacturer (IDM) in China capable of mass-producing general-purpose DRAM.

Cxmt Corporation's product matrix includes DDR and LPDDR. The former is designed for high-performance computing scenarios like desktops and servers, while the latter is tailored for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, balancing high energy efficiency with low power consumption. Its customer list includes nearly all major players in China's tech circle, such as Alibaba Cloud, ByteDance, Tencent, Lenovo, Xiaomi, Transsion, Honor, OPPO, and Vivo.

In previous years, the business was a money-losing venture. According to the prospectus, from 2022 to 2024, Cxmt Corporation accumulated losses exceeding 30 billion yuan. During the same period, the company's revenue was 8.29 billion yuan, 9.087 billion yuan, and 24.178 billion yuan, respectively, but its net profit was -8.33 billion yuan, -16.34 billion yuan, and -7.145 billion yuan. At one point, it was widely believed that global giants had already claimed the ticket to the memory chip market.

According to the prospectus, there were two reasons for the losses. First, DRAM prices were highly volatile, with unit prices dropping by 43.54% in 2023, meaning the more they sold, the more they lost. Second, research and development costs were extremely high. In 2023, R&D expenses were 4.67 billion yuan, accounting for 51.39% of revenue.

The turning point came in 2025. With the explosion in demand for AI computing power, Cxmt Corporation's global market share grew from 3.97% to 7.67%, ranking it fourth globally. The company returned to profitability, with a full-year net profit of 1.875 billion yuan, while total annual revenue surged to approximately 61.8 billion yuan.

"The establishment of Cxmt Corporation filled the gap in domestic DRAM, providing secure, controllable, and cost-effective core components for local display, home appliance, and automotive industries. It has opened a collaborative 'panel + storage' chain, significantly reducing the overall cost of the industry chain," said Song Xiangqing, Vice President of the China Business Economics Society, as cited by China City News.

By 2026, the company's performance exploded. In Q1 alone, quarterly revenue was 50.8 billion yuan, a year-over-year increase of 719%, and net profit attributable to the parent company was 24.762 billion yuan, a year-over-year increase of 1,688.3%. Calculated over 91 days, this memory chip giant earned an average of about 272 million yuan per day.

The company expects its first-half 2026 revenue to reach between 110 billion and 120 billion yuan, and its net profit attributable to the parent company to be between 50 billion and 57 billion yuan. After losing 36.6 billion yuan over nine years, the company earned it all back in just six months. With this stunning reversal, Cxmt Corporation has drawn everyone's attention to this capital table.

Behind these numbers are the wealth stories of a group of people. What is truly exciting, however, is the cast of characters sitting around the table.

A Financial Analysis of Who Made the Most Money from Cxmt Corporation

Looking through the equity structure of Cxmt Corporation, the company has no single controlling shareholder or actual controller, but its shareholder background is star-studded. The company's largest shareholder is Hefei Qinghui Jidian, holding 21.67%. Other shareholders include Cxmt Jicheng (11.71%), Hefei Jixin (8.37%), Anhui Investment Group (7.91%), and the Big Fund Phase II (8.73%).

Another significant force comes from the banking system. The financial asset investment companies (AICs) under the five major state-owned banks—Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Bank of Communications—hold a combined 3.18%. Everbright Securities estimates that the listing of Cxmt Corporation will boost the revenue growth of these five major banks by 0.3% to 10%.

Insurance capital was also present. Six insurance entities, including Hexie Health, Sunshine Life Insurance, China Post Life Insurance, China Life Investment, PICC Capital, and PICC Kechuang, directly hold shares, with a combined shareholding ratio of 3.96%.

Beyond the banks, a more powerful force comes from industrial capital, and the biggest winner among them is Alibaba. In June 2025, Alibaba Cloud invested 6.1 billion yuan to acquire a 3.85% stake in Cxmt Corporation. Combined with the 1.12% stake held by Alibaba Network Technology, the "Alibaba Group" holds a total of 4.97%, with a cumulative investment of about 7.6 billion yuan.

Based on the 3.3 trillion yuan market cap, Alibaba's stake is worth approximately 164 billion yuan, yielding a paper profit of nearly 22 times, the highest among all industrial capital investors. But Alibaba's vision extends beyond financial returns. As the largest cloud service provider in China, DRAM is a core component for its servers. The prospectus lists Alibaba Cloud as a customer of Cxmt Corporation, though the specific transaction amount is not disclosed.

Besides Alibaba, Tencent holds a 1.5% stake, Midea holds 0.75%, and Xiaomi holds 0.21%. These industrial capital players have come together to form a "family portrait" of China's hard-tech industry—internet, home appliances, and mobile phones—nearly half the industrial sector now sits at the same table. GigaDevice holds a 1.8% stake, making it the eighth-largest shareholder, and its chairman, Zhu Yiming, is also the founder of Cxmt Corporation, creating a strong business link between the two companies. In February 2026, GigaDevice disclosed a planned DRAM purchase transaction amount of 221 million US dollars from Cxmt Corporation.

It is worth noting that Huang Xiaoming (not the actor, but a founding shareholder of Midea with a 2% stake at its establishment) indirectly holds 30.18 million shares of Cxmt Corporation through Zhaoyin Yunting. This former Midea Group senior executive has attracted market attention due to sharing his name with the famous actor.

Among the predominantly state-owned and industrial capital shareholder lineup of Cxmt Corporation, Huadeng Gaoke stands out as one of the few market-oriented VCs. In 2021, its managing partner, Peng Guie, decisively invested nearly 900 million yuan. Now, with the completion of the subscription for Cxmt Corporation, the baton of this capital feast is being passed from the primary market to the secondary market buying institutions.

In the strategic placement list, a total of 30 institutions participated, with a combined placement amount of 14.437 billion yuan. Several listed companies joined the placement, including Transsion Holdings (688036.SH), TCL Technology (000100.SZ), Tongfu Microelectronics (002156.SZ), Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. (688012.SH), Montage Technology (688008.SH), Piotech (688072.SH), and NSIG (688126.SH).

There is also a seemingly "crossover" presence. Liang Wenfeng, the founder of DeepSeek and High-Flyer Quant, appeared on the new stock lottery list with 194 funds under his management. Finally, there were 9.42 million retail investors, with a 0.47% allocation rate, each winning allotment expected to yield a profit of 20,000 yuan. It was their influx that turned this IPO into a "national event."

Zhu Yiming's Capital Path: Building a "Memory Chip Leader" and Creating Wealth for 6,760 Employees

Behind this year's strongest wealth-creating IPO is "chip tycoon" Zhu Yiming. At 17, he was admitted to the Physics Department of Tsinghua University from Yancheng, Jiangsu. After further studies in the United States, he made a name for himself in Silicon Valley. In 2005, he returned to China to found GigaDevice, which he listed on the A-share market in 2016, achieving a market cap of over 140 billion yuan at one point. In 2026, GigaDevice also listed in Hong Kong, becoming an "A+H" company.

In 2018, at age 46, he resigned as General Manager of GigaDevice to take full-time charge of Cxmt Corporation. At the time, Cxmt Corporation had just started mass production, the DRAM market was firmly held by overseas giants, and profitability was a distant prospect. He set a rule: he would not draw a salary or bonus until the company turned a profit.

The capital market has given him a different kind of reward. As of now, Zhu Yiming indirectly holds a 2.66% stake in Cxmt Corporation through platforms like Qinghui Jidian, totaling 1.59 billion shares, of which 1.536 billion shares come from the second-phase employee stock ownership plan. According to the Hurun Rich List, as of the end of August 2025, Zhu Yiming's wealth was 12 billion yuan. However, with the listing of Cxmt Corporation, the value of the shares he holds in the company alone will exceed 78.7 billion yuan.

Nevertheless, he has chosen to distribute 50% of these shares (approximately 768 million shares) to current employees over the 10 years following the listing. At the current stock price, this incentive is valued at over 38 billion yuan, making it the largest personal equity incentive in A-share history. This will also reduce the number of shares from which he ultimately benefits personally.

This generosity goes even further. Cxmt Corporation implemented employee stock ownership plans during two industry downturns. The first phase, in July 2020, had a grant price of 1.05 yuan per share and covered 3,596 participants. The second phase, in June 2023, had a grant price as low as 0.108 yuan per share. At the current stock price, the paper return for employees in the second phase is over 458 times. Combined, 6,760 participants received equity incentives, accounting for 35% of the company's 19,298 employees. Based on the 3.3 trillion yuan market cap, some employees hold shares worth tens of millions of yuan.

For this IPO, four asset management plans were also arranged, allowing approximately 360 senior executives and core employees to subscribe at the IPO price, with a total scale of nearly 1.6 billion yuan. Senior Vice President and CFO Huang Danyang holds 36.28 million shares, valued at about 1.796 billion yuan. Board Secretary Yuan Yuan holds about 20.26 million shares, valued at about 1.003 billion yuan.

The listing of a single company has given an entire industry hope. This is more than just a wealth-creation movement. What are your thoughts on the wealth story behind Cxmt Corporation's IPO? Feel free to share your comments below.

This article is compiled based on the prospectus of Cxmt Corporation and public reports. Data is as of July 2026. All financial data mentioned in the article is sourced from the company's publicly disclosed documents and does not constitute any investment advice. The stock market carries risks, and investment should be undertaken with caution.