China's leading memory chip maker was worth $23 billion after its recent shareholding overhaul, and is likely to list in either Shanghai or Shenzhen

Key Takeaways:

YMTC has completed a shareholding restructuring, attracting 16 institutional investors ahead of an expected IPO

Despite U.S. sanctions forcing it to rely on domestic production equipment, the memory chip maker recently doubled its global market share from 4% to 8.3%

China has pumped billions into its semiconductor industry in the last decade, seeking to localize supply chains to shield it from increasingly stringent U.S. technology restrictions. That effort has yielded a cohort of companies now starting to mature, providing stock market investors with a wide range of new semiconductor options.

An addition to that group could soon be Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC), which stands out as China's homegrown champion in the highly competitive global market for flash memory that's a critical component in smartphones and other electronic gadgets. YMTC was founded in 2016, just two years before the U.S. launched the first salvo in its prolonged war to stifle China's semiconductors development, and has weathered years of escalating restrictions since then.

Nearly a decade after its launch, the company is now eyeing its next major milestone, this time on the capital, rather than technology, markets, as it edges towards an IPO. The company held its inaugural shareholder meeting late last month and elected its first board, completing a shareholding reform process that brought it one step closer to a listing, local financial outlet Caixin reported, without providing any additional timeline.

With an AI boom driving demand for memory and China erecting its own restrictions on foreign chip makers, most notably U.S. leader Micron (MU.US), YMTC hardly needs to worry about demand for its products at home and increasingly abroad. As long as it can produce competitive products, orders will follow.

Still, the company's long-term success will depend on how quickly the domestic chip industry advances, particularly the equipment manufacturing sector that provides essential production tools. This is precisely the area where ...