Changxin Technology's market value exceeded 3 trillion yuan on its first day of listing. Which securities firm has the highest floating profit?
On July 27th, Changxin Technology, the largest IPO (Initial Public Offering) in the history of the Sci-Tech Innovation Board, was officially listed. By the close of trading, its share price stood at 49 yuan per share, marking a 465.82% increase compared to the issue price of 8.66 yuan per share, with a total market capitalization of 3.28 trillion yuan. On its first trading day, it became the company with the highest market value on the A-share market.
The remarkable performance of Changxin Technology has brought substantial profits to the securities firms that participated in it.
First are the sponsorship and underwriting fees. According to disclosures, the sponsoring institutions and lead underwriters are China International Capital Corporation (CICC) and CITIC Securities, with four joint lead underwriters, namely Guotai Haitong, Guoyuan Securities, Huatai United, and China Merchants Securities. Calculated based on the total fundraising of 666 billion yuan after the full exercise of the over-allotment option, the sponsorship and underwriting fee under the tiered billing model is approximately 242 million yuan.
For securities firms, what matters even more are the returns from follow-on investments and early shareholdings. Among them, China Merchants Securities is the biggest winner. Relying solely on the shares held by China Merchants Securities Investment, its floating profit exceeds 100 billion yuan calculated based on the share price on the first trading day after listing. In addition, Huaan Securities holds approximately 0.44% of the shares, CITIC Securities, which served as a sponsoring institution, holds about 0.15% of the shares, and institutions including CICC, Guotai Haitong, and Guoyuan Securities all hold varying proportions of shares.
However, on the first trading day of Changxin Technology, Huaan Securities fell by 9.43%, and China Merchants Securities dropped by 2.25%. Since the beginning of July, Huaan Securities has declined by 25%, while China Merchants Securities has fallen by more than 11%.
Analysts from Guotai Haitong Securities believe that securities firms are deeply integrating with the technology industry by leveraging the "Investment Banking + Investment + PE (Private Equity)" model, and sci-tech innovation investment has become the third major growth driver in addition to international business and wealth management.
"Currently, the direction of equity investment has completely shifted from 'pan-PE diversification' to 'hard-core sci-tech innovation', with the principle of 'no investment in non-hard-core technology'. Deeply cultivating technological innovation and deploying future industries aligned with national strategies has become the consensus of equity investment institutions across the entire market," GF Securities told *Caijing*.
China Merchants Securities' Floating Profit Exceeds 100 Billion Yuan
China Merchants Securities is undoubtedly the biggest winner among securities firms, having completed multi-layered investments through its two platforms, China Merchants Securities Investment and China Merchants Zhiyuan Capital. After penetrating through all investment entities, the company indirectly holds a total of approximately 505 million shares of Changxin Technology, with a shareholding ratio of 0.84% before the issuance.
Among them, China Merchants Securities Investment, a wholly-owned alternative investment subsidiary of China Merchants Securities, directly holds 323.7 million shares of Changxin Technology, accounting for 0.54% of the shares before issuance. Calculated at the closing price of 49 yuan per share, the market value of these holdings is 158.61 billion yuan. According to disclosures, the subscribed capital contribution of China Merchants Securities Investment is 324 million yuan. This means that the floating profit of China Merchants Securities alone reaches 155 billion yuan, and 100% of this profit belongs to China Merchants Securities.
At the same time, China Merchants Securities has also made indirect investments through two industrial funds under the private equity platform China Merchants Zhiyuan, holding a total of 0.30% of the shares after penetration. The two funds have paid-in capital contributions of approximately 370 million yuan, and their floating profits will also reach tens of billions of yuan. However, as the fund manager, China Merchants Securities only collects management fees and excess performance shares.
China Merchants Securities entered the Changxin Technology project at an early stage, leveraging huge returns at a relatively low cost. This single investment income alone exceeds its full-year net profit in 2025. In 2025, China Merchants Securities achieved a net profit attributable to shareholders of 123.5 billion yuan.
As sponsoring institutions required to make mandatory follow-on investments, CICC and CITIC Securities have also reaped substantial returns. Serving as the sponsoring institutions for Changxin Technology, they earned sponsorship fees while also obtaining returns from follow-on investments. According to disclosures, subsidiaries of CICC and CITIC Securities, namely CICC Wealth Management and CITIC Securities Investment, participated in the mandatory follow-on investment. Each of the two institutions was allocated approximately 115 million shares, with a maximum capital contribution of 1 billion yuan. The lock-up period for the follow-on investment is 24 months from the listing date. Calculated based on the closing price on the first trading day, the two securities firms recorded a floating profit of about 46 billion yuan solely from the follow-on investment.
Meanwhile, CITIC Securities holds approximately 88.96 million shares of Changxin Technology through its wholly-owned subsidiary CITIC Securities Investment, and CICC indirectly holds about 81,000 shares through multi-layered funds under its wholly-owned subsidiary CICC Capital Operations.
Huaan Securities, a mid-sized and small securities firm headquartered in Hefei, has also achieved considerable returns from its investment in Changxin Technology. Through its wholly-owned subsidiary Huaan Jiaye and its participation in an integrated circuit fund, it holds a total of approximately 264 million shares of Changxin Technology, representing a 0.44% stake before issuance. If calculated based on the market-estimated cost of 2.25 yuan per share, Huaan Securities' floating profit will reach 123 billion yuan. In 2025, Huaan Securities recorded a net profit attributable to shareholders of 21.08 billion yuan.
In addition, Founder Securities, Guotai Haitong, and GF Securities all hold varying proportions of shares.
Founder Securities adopted a multi-layered investment model of "fund nesting": Hezhuang Gaoxin, managed by its subsidiary Founder Hesheng, directly holds 76.6286 million shares of Changxin Technology, and Founder Securities holds a 19.96% stake in this fund; at the same time, Hezhuang Gaoxin holds a 21.09% stake in Xinxin Lirun, which in turn holds 639.7753 million shares of Changxin Technology. After layer-by-layer penetration calculation, Founder Securities ultimately holds a total of 42.227 million shares of Changxin Technology. Calculated at the closing price on July 27th, the market value of these holdings is 2.069 billion yuan.
Guotai Haitong (Haitong Securities) made its investments through a private equity platform. Haitong Huiyin Equity Investment Partnership, managed by its subsidiary Haitong Kaifa Investment, directly holds 285.6297 million shares of Changxin Technology. Haitong Kaifa holds a 20% stake in this partnership, and after penetration, Guotai Haitong indirectly holds 57.1259 million shares, with a market value of approximately 28 billion yuan.
GF Securities participated in the investment through its associated entity Guangzhou Xinde. Guangzhou Xinde directly holds 167.6502 million shares of Changxin Technology, and GF Securities holds a 36.83% stake in Guangzhou Xinde. After penetration, it holds a total of 61.7456 million shares of Changxin Technology. Calculated based on the closing price on the first trading day, the market value of these holdings is 30.26 billion yuan.
Securities Firms Are Optimistic About Changxin's Future Growth Potential
Regarding the post-listing performance of Changxin Technology, multiple securities firms have issued optimistic outlooks.
From an industry perspective, according to the calculations and forecasts of CITIC Securities, global DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) demand is expected to reach 40.9/50.6/62.2 billion GB respectively from 2026 to 2028, representing a year-on-year increase of 21%/24%/23%. Among this, the combined proportion of direct demand from HBM and AI (Artificial Intelligence) server CPUs and DRAM is expected to rise from 24% in 2026 to 32% in 2028, becoming the core driver of industry demand growth. On the supply side, overseas original manufacturers are prioritizing the allocation of advanced manufacturing processes, clean room, and equipment resources to HBM. The construction of new wafer fabs is still constrained by factors such as clean room construction cycles, equipment delivery lead times, process verification, and yield ramp-up. It is estimated that the global DRAM supply-demand gap will be approximately 4.3%/5.7%/5.9% respectively from 2026 to 2028, and the state of supply falling short of demand is expected to continue at least until 2028.
Public information shows that Changxin Technology is China's largest, most technologically advanced, and most comprehensively laid-out integrated DRAM R&D, design, and manufacturing enterprise. It owns three 12-inch DRAM wafer fabs, ranking first in China and fourth globally in terms of shipment volume and sales revenue.
Multiple securities firms stated that the global DRAM market has long been dominated by Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron, with the three companies collectively occupying nearly 90% of the market share. In the future, as Changxin expands its production capacity, iterates its products, and accelerates domestic substitution, the global DRAM market structure is expected to evolve from a "three-strong oligopoly" to "multi-party competition".
According to the prospectus disclosures, Changxin Technology achieved operating revenue of approximately 50.8 billion yuan and net profit of about 33 billion yuan in the first quarter of this year. For comparison, SK Hynix recorded revenue of 52.6 trillion won in the first quarter of this year, equivalent to approximately 2500-2600 billion yuan. Changxin Technology's revenue in the first quarter is roughly one-fifth of that figure.
Zhongtai Securities stated that China's DRAM market demand is expected to account for about 34% of the global total. Calculated based on Changxin's revenue share, the domestic substitution rate in the first quarter of 2026 was approximately 23%. According to TrendForce, Changxin's revenue share rose to 7.7% in the first quarter of 2026, while the three major original manufacturers held a combined 90% of the revenue share. In the future, the DRAM market will have broad room for domestic substitution, with Changxin leading this trend.
According to the prospectus, 29.5 billion yuan of the funds raised from this listing will be mainly invested in wafer manufacturing upgrading and cutting-edge technology R&D, aiming to break through the barriers of high-end storage and provide financial support for the layout of future products such as HBM. With the implementation of the fundraising-driven capacity expansion, Changxin Technology is expected to generate significant industrial spillover effects, accelerate the large-scale adoption of domestic semiconductor equipment and materials, further drive the coordinated development of upstream and downstream industrial chains, and initiate the critical process of the domestic storage industry's transformation from import dependence to independent controllability.
"The start of every major storage cycle is driven by emerging technologies that promote product upgrading and innovation, thereby boosting the total volume, penetration rate, and value of new memory products, and elevating the overall memory market to a new level. With AI driving increased demand, we are currently at the starting point of a new major storage cycle. We are optimistic about the long-term and substantial boost to storage demand after the implementation of AI models and applications," stated Guojin Securities.
This article is from the WeChat public account "Dushu Yizhi" (ID: dushuyizhi007), written by Zhang Xinpei, and published with authorization from 36Kr.