Micron Technology shares tumbled more than 10% Wednesday as investors reacted to news of a blockbuster initial public offering from Chinese memory chip maker ChangXin Memory Technologies. The decline followed a nearly 5% gain the previous day.
Despite the sharp pullback, Micron stock remains up more than 200% for the year and has climbed nearly 700% over the past 12 months, reflecting the surge in demand for memory chips used in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
CXMT plans to begin taking orders Thursday for its listing on Shanghai’s STAR Market, a technology-focused exchange similar to the Nasdaq. The company is targeting $8.55 billion in proceeds, nearly double its original goal, which would value the business at approximately $85.5 billion.
The Chinese manufacturer has emerged as the world’s fourth-largest producer of dynamic random-access memory. Its share of the global DRAM market rose to 8% in the first quarter of this year, up from 3% during the same period a year earlier, according to data from Counterpoint Research.
That growth still leaves CXMT well behind Micron’s 22% share of the DRAM market, as well as the larger positions held by South Korean rivals SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics. Proceeds from the offering could nonetheless accelerate CXMT’s production expansion and its push for additional global market share.
DRAM accounts for nearly 80% of Micron’s total revenue, a category that includes high-bandwidth memory used extensively in AI servers. That segment has become a key driver of the company’s profit growth in recent quarters.
CXMT’s ambitions face structural limits, however. The company remains subject to U.S. export restrictions that block access to the most advanced chipmaking equipment, limiting its ability to serve American customers or manufacture more sophisticated products such as high-bandwidth memory.
