YMTC IPO Reportedly on Hold: 33 Billion Yuan Shanghai Listing Paused

Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC), China's largest NAND flash maker, has put its Shanghai IPO on hold, Reuters reported on Nov. 4, 2026, leaving a 33 billion yuan ($4.9 billion) STAR market listing without a date.

CCSH Corporation, YMTC's parent, filed for the offering in August and planned to start the strategic share placement in late October and early November, according to Reuters. An internal note to staff, seen by Reuters, says the process is paused because of "various factors" and does not name them. Two of the people Reuters spoke to said the delay could last several months and that YMTC will likely list in the first half of 2027, subject to market conditions. The Shanghai Stock Exchange website still shows the application in the "inquiry stage". YMTC did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.

The backdrop is a sharp fall in Chinese tech shares. Reuters says the CSI300 Index dropped 8.5% in October, its worst month in more than a decade, and the STAR50 index of Shanghai-listed chip and AI companies fell 40% from its July peak through the end of October. Four other people told Reuters the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has given banks informal guidance to slow IPOs by AI and chip companies. The CSRC did not respond to Reuters. The Financial Times reported the same day that the regulator told banks to pause IPOs and suspended large share sales by existing shareholders until markets recover.

Why it matters: the proceeds were meant to pay for memory capacity. Per the draft prospectus, as reported by the Global Times on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's English site, 20.8 billion yuan was earmarked for production-line upgrades and 12.2 billion yuan for research and development. A later listing means YMTC must fund expansion from its own cash flow or other financing for longer.

What the YMTC IPO Filing Showed

The August filing, covered by Investing.com, set out an issue of 1.98 billion to 2.43 billion A-shares, or 10% to 12% of share capital after the offering, which the Global Times says implies a post-listing valuation of 275 billion to 330 billion yuan. The prospectus put first-quarter 2026 revenue at 47.04 billion yuan and net profit at 33.38 billion yuan, against full-year 2025 revenue of 63.19 billion yuan. The Global Times also reported that YMTC's third Wuhan fab is due to start production by the end of 2026, with two more wafer fabs planned, which would double total capacity once all are running.

Those capacity plans are the part exposed to the delay. The listing would have ranked third among STAR market IPOs, behind ChangXin Memory Technologies and SMIC, according to the same report.

YMTC's Share Gains Against Samsung and SK hynix

YMTC has been taking share at home from Samsung and SK hynix. On Oct. 21, Voltgrid reported that Omdia data cited by KED Global put YMTC at 38.5% of China's NAND market in the second quarter of 2026, ahead of Samsung. For the two Korean makers, a slower YMTC build-out would ease some of that pressure on their China sales, though neither has commented on the IPO.

What Is Still Unconfirmed About the Hold

YMTC has not publicly explained the pause or given a new date. The first-half 2027 window comes from two anonymous sources and depends on markets. The CSRC has not commented, and the guidance to banks is described by Reuters's sources as informal. Whether the delay changes the schedule of the third Wuhan fab has not been stated by the company.