China's leading memory chipmaker CXMT became the most valuable company in the mainland after soaring more than 500 percent on its market debut Monday, underscoring how AI demand is boosting the semiconductor sector.

The race to build data centres that power artificial intelligence has fuelled a global memory chip shortage while causing business to boom for the companies that produce them.

ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) is the world's fourth-largest maker of DRAM memory chips, with around eight percent market share.

It wants to rival South Korea's Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, and US giant Micron, companies that have also seen profits and share prices skyrocket in recent months.