From the listing boom to the difficulty of listing, the semiconductor IPO "winter" has arrived.

Semiconductor is the most popular technology track in the past few years, "827 New Deal" (optimizing IPO, refinancing regulatory arrangements, phased tightening of IPO and refinancing rhythm) implementation of the whole six months, semiconductor IPO progress has slowed down significantly, has been approved has not yet issued the event frequently.

Recently, the official website of the Shanghai Stock Exchange showed that the IPO of Dalian Colid Semiconductor Materials Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Colid") was changed to "terminated", and the sponsor Haitong Securities (600837.SH) withdrew its listing application.

on June 15, 2023, kelid's IPO was accepted and entered the inquiry phase on July 11. the IPO was terminated seven months later, becoming the first semiconductor IPO termination case in the year of the dragon.

the termination of kelid's IPO is a microcosm of the difficulty for semiconductor companies to go public since 2023. since last year, the sci-tech board and the growth enterprise board have jointly terminated more than 20 semiconductor IPOs, involving an amount of about 25 billion yuan. there are more companies that applied for IPO in 2023. the listing progress has stagnated in the "inquired" stage for more than half a year, and there is great uncertainty about whether they can "break through.

Since 2020, more than 100 semiconductor companies have been listed on the-share market, covering chip design, wafer manufacturing, materials, equipment, sealing and testing. "There is no denying that some of the listed projects or projects in the process of filing are mainly concentrated in the low-end market competition, with a clear lack of independent innovation and core competitiveness, and a significant decline in performance or even losses during the semiconductor cycle downturn. In the visible time period, semiconductor IPOs are likely to become more stringent, and sustained profitability and technological innovation are one of the key regulatory concerns." A TMT industry investment bankers told reporters.

23 billion Semiconductor IPOs Terminated Since 2023

In 2019, the concept of autonomous control of local semiconductor technology was frequently proposed, and semiconductor companies became the darlings of the primary and secondary markets. 2020-2023 is the history of A- share semiconductor listing boom, 104 related companies to achieve listing, mainly concentrated in the science and technology board and GEM, semiconductor has become the hottest track in the electronics industry.

in terms of the number of listed companies, 2022 will be the year of semiconductor IPO, with 43 companies going public, raising a total of 95.314 billion billion yuan. 2023 is the second largest year, but also the wafer company's listing year, a total of 27 semiconductor companies listed, a total of 75.69 billion billion yuan, the top three funds raised are wafer fabs: Hua Hong Company (688347.SH), core integration (688469.SH), crystal integration (688249.SH). In 2020, 21 semiconductor companies went public, raising a total of 80.305 billion billion yuan, and "Big Mac" SMIC (688981.SH) raised 53.23 billion billion yuan in IPO that year.

since 2024, although three companies have been listed in the semiconductor industry: shengjingwei (603375.SH), Shanghai hejing (688584.SH) and Chengdu huawei (301502.SH), the attitude of regulators to review semiconductor IPO since 2023 is completely different.

Colled is the first semiconductor IPO to be terminated after the Spring Festival in the Year of the Dragon. Several semiconductor IPOs have been terminated so far in 2024. According to the incomplete statistics of the first financial reporter, the IPO of the three semiconductor companies, namely, Dazu Fengbi, Hantong Integration and Huimang Wei, all ended in January. The original plan was to go public on the Growth Enterprise Market, and the amount of funds raised was 0.26 billion yuan, 0.6 billion yuan and 0.606 billion yuan respectively, totaling about 1.466 billion yuan.

the termination of the three semiconductor IPOs in the same month one after another is a rare occurrence in recent years. it is also the epitome of the "difficulty in IPO" of semiconductors after the periodic slowdown of IPOs. not only is it more difficult for semiconductor companies that have applied for IPO to go public, but the number of accepted companies also shows a sharp decline.

According to industry media reports, in terms of IPO acceptance, a total of 48 semiconductors were accepted in 2023, of which 47 were accepted in the first half of the year and only one in the second half. Compared to 2022, 75 semiconductor companies were accepted, down 36% year-on-year.

The board has been the focus of semiconductor IPOs in recent years, with 38 of the 43 semiconductor companies listed in 2023 coming from the board. Reporters further counted the IPO review information of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Since 2023, 15 semiconductor companies have terminated their IPO on the Science and Technology Innovation Board. Most companies voluntarily withdrew their application materials, including Anxin Electronics, Saizhuo Electronics, Microsource Semiconductor, Boya Technology, Zhongganwei, Yiheng Chuangyuan, etc. The total amount of funds to be raised by 15 companies is 16.441 billion yuan. Four of them were terminated after the implementation of the "827 New Deal". Among them, Jichuang North has the highest amount of funds to be raised, reaching 6.01 billion yuan. The company is mainly engaged in the display chip design business.

gem emphasizes "three innovations and four innovations", which is also the plate that semiconductor companies have chosen to go public in recent years. in 2023, the IPO of eight semiconductor companies will be terminated, with a total amount of 6.88 billion yuan to be raised, accounting for the majority of companies that voluntarily withdraw their applications.

that is, the total amount of funds raised for the termination of the semiconductor IPO in the "double creation" sector in 2023 is about 23.2 billion yuan. The reporter noticed that most of the withdrawn semiconductor IPOs were stuck in the inquiry process. In addition, the three IPOs that were terminated within the year, namely, Da Clan Sealing, Han Tong Integration and Hui Mangwei, totaled nearly 25 billion, involving 26 IPOs.

Combing through multiple inquiry letters, it can be seen that the main concerns of the regulatory authorities are: core technology and intellectual property rights, technological advancement, equity structure, sustainable profitability, industry growth potential and company advantages, sector positioning, sales model, Industry competition pattern, company core competitiveness, etc. In addition, the termination of IPO enterprises also have been reported, started inspection and on-site supervision and other situations.

"Continued operation is the basis for continued profitability, and now the continued profitability of semiconductor companies is being focused on. In recent years, many loss-making or micro-profit chip designers listed, most companies concentrated in the low-end product market competition, gross margin is meager and some of the company's products are highly similar, these two years and coincided with the semiconductor cycle downward, many listed chip designers continued to lose performance." An investment banker in charge of the TMT industry told reporters.

several semiconductor IPO "stuck" inquiry phase for more than half a year

except for the terminated semiconductor IPO, some of the semiconductor IPOs that have received approval or are stuck in the inquiry phase have not been updated for several months.

silicon number of shares to raise 1.515 billion yuan listed on the board, the company's IPO was accepted on May 31, 2023, June 29 into the inquiry phase, since then no progress. The first finance and economics on January 12, 2024 published "backdoor failed to rush to the board again, silicon number shares two into a shares can do what you want?" mentioned: silicon number shares before the declaration of the board, had planned to carry out asset restructuring with the listed company Wansheng shares, to achieve backdoor listing, after the transaction fell through the company from 2020 onwards rapid financing, then declared the board IPO, the largest shareholder before the listing has cashed out part of equity.

xingfu electronics is also facing the same situation. since it entered the inquiry phase on June 3 last year, no progress has been made. Xingfu Electronics is a subsidiary split by Xingfa Group (600141.SH). It is engaged in the research and development, production and sales of wet electronic chemicals. Its products are mainly used in integrated circuits, panel manufacturing and other fields. Its semiconductor product customers include SMIC, Changjiang Storage, Huahong Group, Changxin Storage, SMIC Integration and other domestic head fabs. The second phase of the big fund is the second largest shareholder of Xingfu Electronics, the company's listing of the board, to raise 1.5 billion yuan. The first financial November 27, 2023 issue of "Xingfu Electronics IPO: related transactions and war investment surprise shares of concern, the second phase of the large fund for the second largest shareholder" concerned that Xingfu Electronics and holding East Xingfa Group related transactions are higher, making the business independence of Xingfu Electronics is not clear enough.

in addition to the above two companies, there are more semiconductor IPO progress at the stage of "inquiry" and "municipal meeting", many of which have not updated information for half a year.

Chang Guang Chen Xin is engaged in high-performance CMOS image sensors and plans to raise 1.557 billion yuan to list on the Science and Technology Innovation Board. The inquiry letter received on July 27 last year made no progress. The semiconductor companies with a long IPO stagnation time also include Xinwang Wei, Xianfeng Jingke, Minghao Sensor and Shangyang Tong. The general stagnation update time has been more than half a year. The proposed fund-raising amount of the four companies has reached 1.729 billion yuan, 0.7 billion yuan, 0.62 billion yuan and 1.701 billion yuan respectively. The proposed fund-raising amount of these five semiconductor companies is 6.307 billion yuan.

After the semiconductor IPO cooled down, the M & A market heated up. After a single company failed to seek an independent listing, it sought to be acquired.

Kunteng Micro has twice sprinted for the CRE and GEM IPOs since 2020, both of which ended in failure. In August 2023, Sci-tech Board analog chip manufacturer Naxinwei (688052.SH) disclosed that the company had signed an "Intention Agreement" with 20 shareholders of Kuntenwei, including Xueermin and Yuanhe Puhua. The company plans to acquire 20 shareholders holding 33.97 percent of Kuntenwei's shares in cash. After the acquisition is completed, Naxinwei will hold a total of 67.60 percent of Kuntenwei's shares. The acquisition is still in the intention stage, the final outcome is still uncertain.