ChangXin Memory Technologies, China's leading memory chipmaker, has officially announced mass production of its fifth-generation DRAM process, called the G5 platform. The company said the new process allows it to pack more memory into a single chip and to produce more individual chips from one silicon wafer. At the same time, a Taiwanese PC maker said Chinese output has risen enough that commodity memory, at least, is no longer in short supply.
CXMT declared the start of G5 mass production at the World Manufacturing Convention in Hefei, Anhui province, according to Reuters and other outlets on the 20th. Luo Xiaodong, CXMT vice president and head of its marketing center, said the company's process capability has reached a level on par with the most advanced nodes now in mass production across the industry.
CXMT said it had reduced the half-pitch of the active area in its memory array to 11.95 nanometers, or 11.95 billionths of a meter. The result came from quadruple patterning, a technique that repeats exposure and etching several times to form fine circuits. Some analysts note, however, that 11.95 nanometers is a measurement of one specific core structure and is therefore difficult to compare directly with the "12-nanometer-class" process names used by Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Micron.
Memory density improved sharply. Converted to 8Gb products, the potential number of dies per wafer rose at least 50% from the fourth-generation platform, CXMT said. That is a key competitive lever for lowering cost per chip and improving power efficiency. The comparison, however, counts total dies before defects are screened out, which differs from the yield that determines actual shipments. CXMT did not disclose specific yields or monthly output.
CXMT also unveiled two 24-gigabit LPDDR5X products made on the G5 platform. At 24Gb, a single DRAM die holds 3 gigabytes, 50% more than existing 16Gb products. The low-power DRAM used in smartphones and portable electronics will be supplied in two package types to suit different device designs. The company said both products have entered volume production.
CXMT has been growing rapidly in commodity DRAM, a segment its rivals have de-emphasized. The company held a 9.5% share of global DRAM revenue in the second quarter, ranking fourth behind Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Micron, according to TrendForce. It recently announced mass production and commercialization of LPDDR6, and its HBM3E, a fifth-generation high-bandwidth memory, is reported to have entered trial production.
If Chinese producers led by CXMT expand supply of commodity products such as DDR4 and standard DDR5, the three incumbent memory makers could find it harder to defend prices. With the global trio concentrating capacity on HBM and high-capacity server DDR5, Chinese suppliers are filling the gap in the commodity market.
Acer Chairman Jason Chen said at a forum in Taipei on the 19th that PC memory is not in short supply as Chinese capacity ramps up, according to Taiwan's Economic Daily News. Some components, such as LPDDR5 and DDR5 9600, are in oversupply like DDR4, with sellers outnumbering buyers, he said. He estimated that price increases could stop in the second half of next year once falling component prices are reflected in end products.
That view, however, comes from a PC manufacturer that buys commodity memory, and supply of some LPDDR5 and high-speed DDR5 remains tight. Chen added that prices remain high even now, but that swings have widened compared with the past. Citi expects global DRAM demand to grow 30% in 2027 and 35% in 2028, while supply expands just 19% and 22%, respectively. The bank attributes the gap to rapidly rising demand for HBM and server DDR5 as continuous AI training spreads.
