China's largest memory chipmaker, ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), has already begun producing HBM3E, an advanced high-bandwidth memory product, on a small scale, tech news outlet The Information reported on the 31st of last month, citing multiple sources.
CXMT plans to ramp up production volumes significantly starting next year, according to the report. That would narrow the technology gap to a single generation behind products already in mass production at the memory Big Three — Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Micron.
Sources said T-Head, a chip design unit under Alibaba, and Cambricon Technologies are testing CXMT's HBM3E in their own processors, and related products could reach the market early next year if plans hold. The two companies could package CXMT's HBM3E into their own chips and sell them to artificial intelligence data center operators in China.
Orders from these fabless companies will give CXMT a foothold to build mass-production know-how in HBM and accumulate customer feedback, The Information reported, adding that the timing coincides with a surge in HBM demand driven by the AI boom and could mark a watershed for China's semiconductor industry. CXMT plans to channel the $8.6 billion (about 11.8 trillion won) it raised through a Shanghai stock listing last month into expanding production capacity.
Still, the United States has restricted exports of advanced HBM to China since 2024, and Chinese companies need prior approval from the U.S. government even to buy lower-specification memory. CXMT faces limits on purchasing advanced foreign equipment as well as low yields, and its technology gap with the leaders is put at three to five years. SK hynix, Samsung Electronics and Micron have begun supplying samples of HBM4E, a generation ahead.
