ChangXin Memory Technologies Launches STAR Market IPO Subscription; DeepSeek Founder Liang Wenfeng Joins Through 153 High-Flyer Quant Funds

An IPO widely viewed as historic has unexpectedly connected two iconic figures in China’s technology landscape.

On July 16, ChangXin Memory Technologies, China’s leading domestic DRAM manufacturer, officially launched online and offline subscriptions for its STAR Market listing. The offering price was set at 8.66 yuan per share, with an initial public offering of 6.688 billion shares, targeting total proceeds of 57.92 billion yuan (approximately $8.6 billion). If the overallotment option is fully exercised, the fundraising amount will reach 66.61 billion yuan (approximately $9.8 billion), surpassing the 53.2 billion yuan (approximately $7.9 billion) record set by SMIC (688981.SS) in 2020 to become the largest IPO since the STAR Market’s inception.

Among the vast pool of IPO subscribers, one name caught the market’s eye—Zhejiang Jiuzhang Asset Management Co., Ltd. and Ningbo High-Flyer Quant Investment Management Partnership (Limited Partnership) both appeared on the offline subscription list. The actual controller of both entities is DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng. According to the announcement, as many as 153 private fund products under High-Flyer Quant participated in the subscription, all with a proposed subscription price of 8.78 yuan per share, with most products submitting subscription quantities in the range of 70 million to 140 million shares.

Around the same time as ChangXin’s subscription launch, market reports emerged that DeepSeek has also begun preparations for a mainland China listing. Two highly anticipated trillion-yuan-level IPO projects have thus experienced a curious intersection of destinies at this moment.

Pricing Dynamics: The Dual Face of High P/E and Low P/B

From a pricing structure perspective, ChangXin exhibits the typical characteristics of a “heavy-asset, high-investment-phase” technology enterprise.

Based on audited 2025 non-recurring net profit, the offering corresponds to a price-to-earnings ratio as high as 308.92x (without overallotment exercise). Compared to major global DRAM manufacturers, Samsung Electronics had a 2025 trailing P/E of 33.62x, SK Hynix 30.64x, Micron Technology (MU) 62.27x, and Nanya Technology 220.67x. ChangXin’s P/E ratio is significantly higher than its peers.

However, switching to a price-to-book perspective paints a completely different picture. Based on audited 2025 net assets attributable to the parent company plus the net proceeds from this offering, ChangXin’s offering P/B ratio is only 5.06x (without overallotment exercise), compared to Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology’s corresponding P/B ratios of 3.51x, 10.91x, and 16.70x, respectively.

This combination of “high P/E, low P/B” reflects the capital market’s pricing logic for ChangXin: investors are not only paying for current profits but also placing bets on its massive fab production lines and future capacity release expectations.

ChangXin operates three 12-inch DRAM wafer fabs across Hefei and Beijing. As of the end of 2025, monthly production capacity had reached 300,000 wafers, with a target of 400,000 wafers in 2026.

Explosive Earnings Growth; First-Half Net Profit Expected to Exceed 50 Billion Yuan

ChangXin’s earnings trajectory is almost a perfect mirror image of the global memory chip cycle.

In 2023 and 2024, weighed down by the industry downturn, high depreciation, and R&D investment, the company’s net profit attributable to the parent recorded losses of 16.34 billion yuan (approximately $2.4 billion) and 7.14 billion yuan (approximately $1.1 billion), respectively.

The turning point came in 2025. The “memory super cycle” ignited by large AI models drove DRAM prices persistently higher, and ChangXin achieved annual revenue of 61.8 billion yuan (approximately $9.1 billion) and net profit attributable to the parent of 1.88 billion yuan (approximately $277.1 million), returning to profitability.

Entering 2026, earnings have seen explosive growth. First-quarter revenue reached 50.8 billion yuan (approximately $7.5 billion), up 719.13% year-on-year; net profit attributable to the parent was 24.76 billion yuan (approximately $3.7 billion), surging 1,688.30% year-on-year.

The company’s updated prospectus further disclosed first-half 2026 earnings guidance: estimated revenue of 110 billion to 120 billion yuan (approximately $16.3 billion to $17.7 billion), representing year-on-year growth of 612.53% to 677.31%; estimated net profit attributable to the parent of 50 billion to 57 billion yuan (approximately $7.4 billion to $8.4 billion), representing year-on-year growth of 2,244.03% to 2,544.19%.

Based on the offering price, ChangXin’s total market capitalization at listing would be approximately 579.2 billion yuan (approximately $85.6 billion). However, multiple institutions have issued more aggressive expectations, suggesting its post-listing market cap could reach between 1 trillion and 4 trillion yuan. Based on this, investors receiving one lot (500 shares) would need to pay 4,330 yuan, with corresponding profit potential ranging from approximately 3,000 yuan to 26,000 yuan (approximately $3,843).

Zhu Yiming Speaks: STAR Market Listing Is a New Starting Point

On July 15, ChangXin held an online investor communication meeting, with Chairman Zhu Yiming making a rare appearance at the roadshow.

“Behind every technological breakthrough lies the perseverance and dedication of countless ChangXin people, and it also bears witness to the steadfast steps of China’s memory industry moving forward,” Zhu said in his opening remarks, reviewing the company’s development journey. Since successfully launching its first independently designed 8Gb DDR4 chip in 2019, achieving a “zero-to-one” breakthrough for mainland China’s DRAM industry, ChangXin has adopted a “leapfrog R&D” strategy, completing mass production from its first-generation to fourth-generation process platforms, achieving coverage and iteration of products including DDR5 and LPDDR5/5X.

According to Omdia statistics, in the fourth quarter of 2025, ChangXin’s share of the global DRAM market had reached 7.67%, ranking fourth globally and first in China. Its products have been successfully adopted by major Chinese smartphone brands including Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, and Transsion.

Zhu Yiming is also the core leader of GigaDevice (603986.SS), China’s leading MCU manufacturer. GigaDevice is not only a shareholder of ChangXin but also an important customer, with its self-developed DRAM products manufactured through wafer foundry services provided by ChangXin. According to an April 2025 announcement, GigaDevice expects total procurement from ChangXin to reach as high as $161 million for the full year 2025.

In response to investor questions about horizontal competition, ChangXin’s Vice President and Board Secretary Yuan Yuan responded that the two parties have substantive differences in main business, product structure, downstream application areas, and business development stages, and “there is no horizontal competition or potential horizontal competition that constitutes a material adverse impact, nor any transfer of benefits or other special arrangements.”

Liang Wenfeng’s Capital Empire and the DeepSeek Listing Speculation

The reason Liang Wenfeng’s participation in this IPO subscription has drawn such attention lies in the uniqueness of his dual identity.

In 2015, Liang Wenfeng co-founded High-Flyer Quant with Zhejiang University classmate Xu Jin, aspiring to build a world-class quantitative hedge fund. According to data from Simuwang, High-Flyer Quant’s average return in 2025 reached 56.55%, ranking second among billion-level quantitative private funds, with assets under management exceeding 70 billion yuan (approximately $10.3 billion).

It is precisely this “cash machine” that allowed DeepSeek to remain closed to external capital for an extended period, making it an exceptionally unique presence in the large model arena. Only recently did DeepSeek complete its first round of external financing.

According to Bloomberg reports, DeepSeek has begun preparing for an IPO, planning to list in mainland China, with an application potentially filed as early as this year.

On one side stands ChangXin, bearing the fruits of China’s decade-long semiconductor breakthrough efforts; on the other, DeepSeek, which has shown the world China’s AI capabilities. Both companies are now preparing to enter the capital markets—a development that itself constitutes a profoundly meaningful tableau.

Looking back over the past two decades, the most dazzling IPOs in China’s capital markets mostly came from the internet or traditional industries. Today, companies representing foundational technological capabilities—chips, large models, robotics—are beginning to stand in the spotlight. What the market is granting them is not merely higher valuations, but a repricing of China’s original technological capabilities.

Risk Disclosures and Subscription Arrangements

ChangXin also candidly acknowledged risks in its prospectus: if macroeconomic conditions deteriorate unfavorably, downstream AI demand falls short of expectations, or market supply-demand dynamics undergo significant changes, the DRAM industry could re-enter a downcycle, product prices could experience substantial declines, and the company’s performance could suffer significant drops or even losses.

According to the schedule, the results of this subscription lottery will be announced on July 20, with investors required to complete payment by 4:00 PM that day.

On the strategic placement front, national-level long-term funds including the National Social Security Fund and basic pension insurance funds participated, along with industry chain enterprises such as Shenzhen Sankuai Network Technology Co., Ltd., NIO Power Technology (Hefei) Co., Ltd., ZTE Corporation (000063.SZ), Chery Intelligent Automotive Technology (Hefei) Co., Ltd., and Hangzhou Alibaba Cloud Feitian Information Technology Co., Ltd., with allocated amounts totaling approximately 158 million yuan (approximately $23.4 million) and lock-up periods ranging from 18 to 36 months.