CXMT Is Expanding Commodity DRAM Output While Still Trailing Samsung and SK Hynix in HBM
China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) DRAM FC-BGA. [Captured from China’s CXMT website]
As China’s largest DRAM company CXMT records explosive growth riding the AI memory boom, growing tension is emerging in the global memory market centered around Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
Analysts suggest that while a technological gap still exists in advanced fields such as High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), the company is rapidly expanding its presence in the commodity DRAM market under the full support of the Chinese government.
According to China’s Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily and others on May 18 (local time), CXMT submitted its investment prospectus to the Shanghai Stock Exchange the previous day, ahead of its initial public offering (IPO).
CXMT’s revenue for the first quarter of this year recorded 50.8 billion yuan (about 12.8 trillion won), surging 719.13% compared to the same period last year.
Analysis indicates that CXMT’s rapid growth is aligned with the recent surge in demand for AI server memory. In fact, the sales unit price of major DRAM products rose by 55.08% and 33.69% year-on-year in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
In particular, as China pushes for ‘semiconductor independence’ as a national strategy following the strengthening of US semiconductor regulations, CXMT is also aggressively expanding its production capacity. Currently, CXMT operates 12-inch wafer plants in Hefei, Beijing, and other locations.
According to the market research firm Omdia, three companies, including Samsung Electronics (33.96%), SK Hynix (34.48%), and Micron (23.41%), accounted for more than 90% of the global DRAM market last year. However, CXMT also grew to the world’s fourth-largest level, with its market share rising to 7.67% as of the fourth quarter of last year.
According to Newsis, assessments in the industry suggest that CXMT still has a gap with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix in the advanced AI memory sector such as High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). Initially, CXMT planned to mass-produce HBM3 in the first half of this year, but it is known that the order volume for materials and components remains at a small amount only capable of producing samples.
However, in the commodity DRAM market, the company is rapidly expanding its influence based on price competitiveness and domestic demand in China. Through this listing, CXMT plans to raise about 29.5 billion yuan to invest in production line modifications and next-generation DRAM research and development.
Kim Eun-jin
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