Competition is intensifying in the microchip sector as companies pump billions of dollars into the race to develop advanced artificial intelligence (AI).
JX Advanced Metals, a spin-off of Japanese oil giant ENEOS Holdings, supplies alloys and other materials to Taiwan chip titan TSMC and Intel of the US.
The firm raised ¥439 billion (US$3 billion) in its share offer, according to calculations by Bloomberg News.
That makes it the country’s biggest since tech and telecoms conglomerate SoftBank Group raised a national record of ¥2.65 trillion in 2018 (US$23.5 billion at the time) by listing its mobile unit, SoftBank Corp.
Shares in JX Advanced Metals climbed to ¥866 per share today, up 5.6% from their listing price of ¥820, which was at the upper end of their price range.
Technology related shares have had a rough time in recent weeks, with investors concerned about the economic impact of US President Donald Trumps’ trade tariffs on the industry.
That comes amid surging competition is heating up in the AI arena between US giants and Chinese rivals such as DeepSeek, which upended the sector earlier this year with its latest chatbot.
TSMC, the world’s largest contract maker of chips, in January reported a better-than-expected 57% jump in net profit for the fourth quarter.
The Taiwanese company also recently said it would invest at least US$100 billion in the US to build “cutting edge” manufacturing facilities there.