CanSemi Files for $919M ChiNext IPO Amid Losses at Guangzhou Fab

CanSemi Technology, a Guangzhou-based chip foundry, is seeking to raise about 6.16 billion yuan, or roughly $919 million, in an initial public offering on the Shenzhen stock exchange's ChiNext board, Bloomberg reported. The company is offering about 512 million shares at 12.01 yuan apiece, and the deal size could reach as much as $1 billion if an over-allotment option to meet excess demand is fully exercised.

CanSemi runs a 12-inch wafer fabrication facility that, in Bloomberg's phrasing, "fills production capacity gap in China's high-end analog chip manufacturing segment," with output aimed at automotive, industrial and IoT chips — categories Beijing has prioritized in its push for domestic semiconductor self-reliance. The filing lands as a run of chip listings crowds the A-share market; it is the latest entry in a stretch of China chip and AI stories we have tracked over the last quarter, alongside last week's Hisense-backed Ligent debut in Hong Kong.

The balance sheet behind the deal is less flattering than the headline number. Digitimes reported earlier this year that CanSemi's planned listing "has exposed the financial strain behind China's push to build mature-node semiconductor capacity," with the foundry seeking fresh capital "despite persistent losses, negative gross margins and a long road to profitability."

Neither the Bloomberg piece nor the Digitimes note discloses which specific customers are qualified on the high-end analog lines, or how much of the 6.16 billion yuan is earmarked for new capacity versus refinancing.