Zhu Yiming, the chairman of Chinese memory chip giant CXMT, has added more than $12 billion to his fortune following the company’s blockbuster listing in Shanghai on Monday. Shares jumped over 500%, as investors clamored for a piece of a firm that has risen from obscurity to compete with rivals such as Samsung and Micron at home amid an AI-induced demand boom.

The 54-year-old chairman owns a small stake in the company, which is now China’s largest onshore-listed firm. Zhu, who studied in the U.S. and is a permanent resident of Singapore, also has shares in GigaDevice, a fellow Shanghai-listed chip maker he founded in 2004. Combined, the mogul’s total net worth is $15.9 billion.

Now sporting a market capitalization of 3.7 trillion yuan ($546.4 billion), CXMT’s whopping rally was expected, says Shen Meng, Beijing-based managing director of boutique investment bank Chanson&Co. Investor enthusiasm reached fevered heights as the company is seen as a point of national pride at the forefront of an intensifying technology rivalry with the U.S. “Local demands will continue to benefit CXMT’s future development,” he says.

The chipmaker didn’t respond to requests for comment. In what is Asia’s largest initial public offering so far this year, and before an over-allotment option, the Hefei, Anhui-based company raised 57.9 billion yuan ($8.6 billion) in July by selling about 6.7 billion shares at 8.7 yuan each. CXMT intends to use the proceeds for production expansion as well........

© Forbes