Another leading memory chip player goes public, with HSG placing its bet.

On July 10, 2026, Corextreme Technology Co., Ltd. officially submitted its main board listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with GF Securities and CITIC Securities acting as joint sponsors. This marks the company's second push for a public listing after its initial submission lapsed in January 2026.

Back in 2022, Corextreme previously attempted an A-share IPO on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's ChiNext board and had already secured approval from the listing committee, but voluntarily withdrew its application on December 30, 2023. The official reason stated in its prospectus was that the approval process was expected to take a long time and involve significant uncertainties.

Founded in April 2014, Corextreme is a fabless storage chip supplier focused on the R&D, design, and sales of code-type flash memory chips.

The company's product portfolio primarily consists of two categories of chips: NOR Flash and SLC NAND Flash, which are widely deployed in scenarios such as smart locks, routers, in-vehicle infotainment systems, and industrial controllers for storing code, firmware, and boot programs.

According to data from CIC Consulting, measured by 2024 revenue, Corextreme ranks 6th globally among fabless code-type flash memory chip vendors, taking 4th place in the SLC NAND Flash segment and 5th in the NOR Flash segment. It is the second company in China capable of offering 2Gbit ultra-high-capacity SPI NOR Flash products.

In terms of technological accumulation, the prospectus reveals that the company holds 218 patents. Its self-developed enhanced flash programming technology can double the erase endurance of NOR Flash. Its "dual-process platform" strategy has achieved full gradient product coverage ranging from low power consumption to high reliability in the NOR Flash field, while its SLC NAND products are equipped with a self-developed advanced error correction controller to ensure data reliability under low-power operation.

In terms of financial performance, the semiconductor industry went through a deep downturn cycle from 2023 to 2024, and Corextreme's performance fluctuated accordingly.

The prospectus shows that in 2023, 2024, 2025, and the first quarter of 2026, the company's revenue reached 663 million yuan, 442 million yuan, 519 million yuan, and 224 million yuan respectively.

In terms of net profit, the company recorded a loss of 14 million yuan in 2023, a smaller loss of 7.1 million yuan in 2024, turned profitable with a net profit of 27.2 million yuan in 2025, and further saw its net profit climb to 75.9 million yuan in the first quarter of 2026.

According to the prospectus, the company's gross profit margin stood at 15.5%, 14.0%, 22.8%, and 55.6% respectively for 2023, 2024, 2025, and the first quarter of 2026.

Explaining the rebound in revenue and profits, Corextreme noted in the prospectus that the low-cost wafers it stockpiled during the 2023 industry trough gradually released cost advantages, paired with cost optimization brought by the mass production of its new NORD process platform. The sharp profit surge in Q1 2026 was mainly driven by the phenomenon of SLC NAND prices skyrocketing even as shipment volumes declined.

The new NORD process platform is a self-developed next-generation NOR Flash manufacturing technology that creates cost advantages once it enters mass production.

From the industry perspective, leading upstream manufacturers in the SLC NAND space have continuously cut production capacity, and structural supply shortages have pushed prices sharply higher. For NOR Flash, demand from AIoT, automotive electronics, and industrial control sectors has fully recovered.

Corextreme acknowledged in the prospectus that the flash memory chip industry typically follows a 3-4 year cycle. The company was profitable from 2019 to 2022, making it a typical storage sector cyclical stock.

Changes in product unit prices directly reflect the strength of the cycle reversal, as demonstrated by its three core product lines.

The average selling price (ASP) of SLC NAND Flash was 3.89 yuan in 2025, and rose to 13.04 yuan in the first quarter of 2026.

The ASP of MCP reached 17.07 yuan in 2025, and increased to 29.02 yuan in Q1 2026.

The ASP of NOR Flash was 0.73 yuan in 2025, and stood at 0.60 yuan in Q1 2026.

In terms of product revenue, from 2023 to Q1 2026, Corextreme's NOR Flash product revenue hit 242 million yuan, 159 million yuan, 170 million yuan, and 56 million yuan respectively.

Revenue from SLC NAND was 319 million yuan, 216 million yuan, 280 million yuan, and 149 million yuan respectively.

Revenue from MCP reached 73 million yuan, 43 million yuan, 38 million yuan, and 12 million yuan respectively.

Revenue from other products was 29 million yuan, 24 million yuan, 31 million yuan, and 7 million yuan respectively.

Inventory stocking is a key operational strategy for Corextreme. As of March 31, 2026, the company's total inventory value reached 424 million yuan, with inventory days outstanding at 330 days, equivalent to nearly a full year of stock on hand. From 2023 to Q1 2026, the company's accumulated provision for inventory impairment was 43.5 million yuan, 23.6 million yuan, 11.2 million yuan, and 3.4 million yuan respectively, totaling approximately 81.7 million yuan.

At the equity level, Long Dongqing, founder and chairman, holds approximately 34.94% of shares directly, and controls a total of about 62.3% of the company's voting rights through concert party arrangements.

Long Dongqing, 49 years old, earned a bachelor's degree in Electronics and Information Systems from Fudan University in 1999, and obtained a Master of Business Administration degree from Tsinghua University in June 2025. His entire career has been focused on the foreign-invested semiconductor sector: he previously worked as a design engineer at Renesas, took up product marketing roles at STMicroelectronics from 2003 to 2010, and served as China Channel Manager at Freescale from 2008 to 2010.

According to the prospectus, Long Dongqing, founder, chairman, executive director and general manager of the company, holds approximately 34.9% of shares directly. Long's spouse Shen Yue holds about 9.3% of shares, Li Shuhong from Ningbo Hongshan holds roughly 9.6% of shares, Wang Bin, executive director and deputy general manager, holds around 6.5% of shares, Ai Kanglin, executive director, holds about 3.2% of shares, and Tianshui Huatian Technology Co., Ltd. holds approximately 2.7% of shares.

In terms of financing history, Corextreme completed a 60 million yuan Series A financing round in March 2018, with investors including Shenzhen Venture Capital, Hongtu Xinghe, and Luohu Hongtu.

In August 2018, the company closed a 260 million yuan Series B financing round, with investors including Zhongtoubang, Shenzhen Venture Capital, Hongtu Xinghe, and SDIC (Shanghai) Sci-Tech Achievement Conversion Venture Capital Fund.

After the 2018 Series B round, Corextreme did not publicly disclose any new financing for six consecutive years, until March 2024, when the Jiangxi Provincial Future Industry Development Investment Fund acquired a partial equity stake for 15 million yuan.

In December 2025, Jiaxing Qucheng Longfeng Equity Investment Partnership became a new shareholder via equity transfer, with the transaction amount undisclosed.

Image source: Tianyancha