Chinese chipmaker shares surge 470%

Shares in China's biggest memory chip maker surged nearly 470% as they debuted on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Star Market, the BBC reported. The surge pushed ChangXin Memory Technologies' valuation to around 3.3 trillion yuan, making it the most valuable listed company in mainland China. The debut comes despite a sharp sell-off in technology stocks globally this month. CXMT manufactures dynamic random-access memory chips used in AI data centers, mobile phones, PCs and tablets. The firm, founded in 2016 by Chairman Zhu Yiming, is headquartered in Hefei, Anhui Province. The company said it plans to use most of the IPO proceeds to boost production and carry out more research and development. Analysts said the jump was driven by demand far outstripping supply. "The reason for the extraordinary bounce this morning is that only 7% of the shares are available for trading," Anna Macdonald, investment strategy director at Hargreaves Lansdown, told the BBC's Today programme. The performance offers comfort to Chinese financial officials rolling out measures to curb a stock market slump that wiped out more than $1.5 trillion in recent weeks. South Korean giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix and US-based Micron dominate the Dram market with around 90% of global production.