Chinese banks set for $41 million payday from chipmaker's $8.6 billion IPO

Six Chinese investment banks working on chipmaker CXMT's $8.6 billion IPO are ​set to take home at least $41 million ​in fees, company filings showed, in a boost for an industry whose income pool ​has shrunk over the past half decade.

The payout would bring the year's total fees from mainland IPOs to about $684.62 million, gaining on last year's $984.75 million, LSEG data showed. That compared with a 2022 peak of $4.16 billion on IPOs from heavyweights including China Mobile ‌and CNOOC.

The share sale ⁠continues ⁠a revival of the onshore IPO market as the government lowers barriers for AI, semiconductor and robotics companies aiming to raise money from public ​markets, in a push for technological advancement.


While CXMT's fee rate of 0.48% of IPO proceeds is well below market average, the ​figure indicates its bargaining power in one of China's most high-profile listings of the year.

ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) [688825. SS] opened its IPO for subscription on Thursday. The firm is China's biggest maker of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips that are used in smartphones, computers, servers and other electronics.

If CXMT raises $8.6 billion, the ⁠initial public offering ‌will be Asia's biggest so far this year as well as the biggest-ever Chinese A-share semiconductor IPO, surpassing that of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) in 2020.

China Securities and CICC are sponsoring the ⁠IPO, or playing lead roles in the share sale, IPO filings showed.

Other banks involved are China Merchants Securities, Guotai Haitong Securities, Guoyuan Securities and Huatai Securities unit Huatai United Securities, the filings showed.

CXMT expects fees of 280.6 million yuan, equal to about 0.48% of total proceeds. That compares with the 4.52% average for China A-share IPOs this year, LSEG data showed.

If demand triggers an overallotment option, proceeds could reach $9.8 billion with fees at 296 million yuan, the filings showed.

"This high-profile IPO carries both commercial value and strategic importance," said Shen Meng, director at boutique bank Chanson & Co in Beijing.

Competition to ‌take part in the IPO pushes down fees, Shen said. "Nevertheless, given CXMT's huge fundraising size, investment banks can still reap substantial proceeds even with relatively reduced fee rates."

CICC declined to ​comment. CXMT, China Securities, ​China Merchants Securities, Guotai Haitong ⁠Securities, Guoyuan Securities and Huatai United Securities did not respond to requests for comment.

China Securities, CICC, Guotai Haitong and Huatai Securities ranked among the top five China A-share IPO fee earners from 2022 to 2026 year-to-date, LSEG data showed. China Merchants was ninth.

The CXMT fee is also small relative to other recent deals. Last month, China Resources New Energy paid 0.65% for its 24.5 billion yuan Shenzhen listing.

In the U.S., SpaceX paid $500 million for its record $75 billion IPO last month, equal to about 0.67% of proceeds, while South Korea's SK Hynix paid about 0.97% of $26.5 billion raised via American depositary receipts last week.

($1 = 6.7662 Chinese yuan renminbi)