Industry consolidation enters the deep water zone; the STAR Market M&A and restructuring market continues to heat up

On March 30, while MicroTech disclosed its 2025 annual report, it also simultaneously released a draft of an acquisition of assets through issuing shares and paying cash. The plan is to use 1.576 billion yuan to acquire 64.69% of the equity of Hangzhou Zhongji Electronics Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as “Hangzhou Zhongji”). The same day, Himin’s M&A transaction to acquire Huali Micro was accepted by the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The moves by the two major semiconductor players once again highlight the active momentum in the STAR Market’s M&A and restructuring market. Behind this is a deep resonance between policy enablement and industrial demand.

In this acquisition by MicroTech, the target is Hangzhou Zhongji, which focuses on chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) equipment. Although it is not yet profitable, its products have already entered domestic well-known advanced memory and logic-chip manufacturing companies. The transaction uses a market approach for valuation. The appraised value of 100% of Hangzhou Zhongji’s equity is 2.501 billion yuan, with an appreciation rate of 232.28%, and it also sets up differentiated pricing arrangements. Through this acquisition, MicroTech will fill in the shortcoming in wet-process equipment and become a company with four major upstream core process capabilities—etching, thin-film deposition, metrology, and wet processing—taking a key step toward being “group-based” and “platform-based.” As for Himin’s acquisition of Huali Micro, it not only fulfills its commitment to resolve related party competition during the IPO stage, but also will improve profitability through capacity expansion and process synergy, reflecting the internal logic of industrial integration.

According to statistics, after the release of the “Eight Rules for the STAR Market,” the STAR Market added 54 major asset restructuring deals. Among them, the shares of semiconductors, software, biopharmaceuticals, and high-end equipment manufacturing industries each account for more than 90%. Large cases such as Union Semiconductor Integration and Hsilicon Industry have been implemented. Restructuring plans disclosed recently by companies such as Primun Shares and Kiwitec continue to inject vitality into the market. The coupling of policy inclusiveness with the industrial characteristics of “hard tech” has become the core driving force behind this wave of M&A.

Given the industry characteristics of semiconductors, biopharmaceuticals, and other sectors where “technological breakthroughs come first and commercial realization comes later,” industry insiders interpret that STAR Market M&A and restructuring transactions are also actively exploring the establishment of adaptive valuation frameworks and transaction arrangements. It can be clearly observed that payment methods in STAR Market M&A and restructuring have become more diversified. Companies will comprehensively use shares, convertible bonds, fundraising via private placements of new shares, M&A loans, M&A funds, and more to carry out acquisitions. Innovative transaction arrangements such as differentiated pricing and independent performance commitments are also becoming commonplace. For example, in the case of SiRuiPu when it acquired Chuangxin Micro, it used a differentiated pricing arrangement based on the investors’ subscription costs and the obligations they assumed to set different consideration amounts. In the case of Shengxun Bio when it acquired Zhongshan Haiji, it introduced an “Earn-out” mechanism linking valuation to subsequent performance dynamically.

The value of M&A ultimately manifests in the release of synergy effects. Judging from recent annual reports, the quality and efficiency of integration have gradually begun to show. Taking Hihai Chengke as an example: after completing its acquisition of Hengsuo Huawei in October 2025, its combined annual production volume and sales volume exceeded 25,000 tons, rising to become the second largest in global shipments. In that year, Hengsuo Huawei achieved revenue of 480 million yuan and net profit of 58.1517 million yuan, with both revenue and profit increasing. As integration accelerates, the synergy effects between the two sides across market layout, product matrix, supply chain, production line layout, R&D resources, and other areas will continue to play a role.

Market participants point out that as leading players such as MicroTech and Himin lead industrial integration, combined with the emergence of synergy effects from more cases, the STAR Market’s function in serving new quality productive forces will be further highlighted. Under the dual drivers of policy and the market, STAR Market companies will achieve technological complementarity, production capacity synergy, and ecosystem building through M&A, laying a solid micro-level foundation for the development of emerging pillar industries and pushing the industrial chain toward higher-end development.