Japanese semiconductor firm Socionext, which formed through the merger of the chip units of Fujitsu and Panasonic, has gone public on the Prime Market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The stock in Socionext closed its first trading day on the market at 4,200 yen, or about 28.65 dollars, per share on Wednesday. That translates to a gain of some 15 percent from the offering price on the back of the growing importance of semiconductors worldwide.

The finish price put the company's market capitalization at more than 955 million dollars.

Socionext is a fabless company that engages in design and development while outsourcing manufacturing.

The firm has expanded its earnings by designing and developing logic semiconductors that have an advanced arithmetic processing capacity. The chips are used in data centers, automobiles and other fields.

Socionext earned 110 billion yen, or roughly 750 million dollars at the current exchange rate, in its last full business year.

The firm is expected to inject funds it gained through the market debut into research and development of chips for use in the promising spheres of autonomous driving technology and 5G high-speed communication base stations.

Socionext Chairman, President and CEO Koezuka Masahiro said his company should pour energy in the cutting-edge field to prevail in global competition.

He added that his firm will not be able to grow unless it enhances its development efficiency.