CanSemi files for ChiNext IPO seeking about $919 million

CanSemi Technology Inc., a Guangzhou-based chip foundry that focuses on 12-inch analog and specialty-process wafers for cars, factories and connected devices, is seeking to raise about 6.16 billion yuan ($919 million) in an initial public offering on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's ChiNext board, Bloomberg reported on September 23.

The offering

The company is offering roughly 512 million shares at 12.01 yuan each. The deal could reach about $1 billion if an over-allotment option is exercised in full. Subscriptions are scheduled for September 24, with GF Securities as lead sponsor and Guotai Haitong as joint sponsor.

CanSemi is listing under ChiNext's third set of listing standards, which carry no profitability requirement — the route the exchange created for unprofitable technology companies. It is the second loss-making company to clear ChiNext's listing review, after storage-chip maker DapuStor, and would be the board's first wafer foundry.

A foundry for specialty chips

Founded in 2017 in Guangzhou's Huangpu district, CanSemi runs two 12-inch (300-millimetre) fabs with planned capacity of 80,000 wafers a month; realised capacity reached 63,300 wafers a month at the end of 2025. A third fab, CanSemi Phase IV, is under construction with a planned 40,000 wafers a month at process nodes from 65nm to 22nm, which would lift total capacity to 120,000 wafers a month.

The company makes analog and mixed-signal chips for automotive electronics, industrial control, consumer products and artificial intelligence hardware, including fingerprint-recognition, display-driver, image-sensor and power-management parts. It says it is the only manufacturer on the Chinese mainland able to mass-produce 12-inch silicon-photonics wafers at scale, citing Frost & Sullivan data to the end of April 2026.

Numbers behind the deal

Revenue grew from 1.04 billion yuan in 2023 to 2.58 billion yuan in 2025, while the company has remained unprofitable. It reported an order backlog of 321,200 wafers worth 1.53 billion yuan at the end of May 2026, and wafer shipments in the first quarter of 2026 rose 62% year on year to 180,500 wafers.

CanSemi had targeted 7.5 billion yuan: 3.5 billion for the Phase III analog production line, 2.5 billion for specialty-process platform research and 1.5 billion for working capital. At 12.01 yuan a share, expected gross proceeds of about 6.16 billion yuan fall short of that goal — a shortfall the company flags in its prospectus.

Why it matters

The listing adds to a wave of Chinese semiconductor IPOs as Beijing pushes for greater self-reliance in chips. CanSemi's concentration on mature nodes and analog processes, where demand from vehicles, factories and connected devices is steadier, also tests how far public markets will fund capital-heavy fabs that have yet to post a profit.