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ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), China’s leading memory chipmaker, has started mass production of a new generation of DRAM products in the latest sign of the country’s advancing semiconductor capabilities. The Hefei-based company, which is preparing for an initial public offering in Shanghai, announced on its official website that it had begun producing LPDDR5X – an advanced type of DRAM widely used in mobile devices. DRAM chips function as high-speed memory in artificial intelligence systems, allowing rapid storage and access to the vast amounts of data required for AI model training and inference. CXMT’s move marks its entry into the global arena for advanced memory chips, a market long dominated by South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, as well as US-based Micron Technology. The company’s LPDDR5X range includes chips with speeds of 8,533 Mbps, 9,600 Mbps and 10,667 Mbps. Mass production of the first two models began in May, while the fastest version was currently in the “customer sampling” stage, CXMT said in the statement. The LPDDR5X series is an upgrade on CXMT’s LPDDR5 line-up, offering faster data transfer rates and lower power consumption. The firm launched its LPDDR5 family in 2023, including 12Gb dies and 6GB and 12GB mobile DRAM packages. Samsung in April last year unveiled an LPDDR5X DRAM that it said achieved industry-leading performance of up to 10.7 Gbps, and began mass production of its 12-nanometre LPDDR5X DRAM packages in August last year. CXMT’s latest products underscore the company’s ambition to boost its supply of high-end memory chips amid a global shortage driven by soaring AI demand. Global DRAM industry revenue rose 17.1 per cent quarter on quarter to US$31.63 billion in the second quarter, fuelled by higher contract prices for conventional DRAM and expanding shipments of high-bandwidth memory, according to consultancy TrendForce. The announcement also comes as CXMT moves closer to a long-anticipated IPO on the mainland. The company aimed to list in Shanghai as early as the first quarter of 2026, seeking a valuation of up to 300 billion yuan (US$41 billion), Reuters reported earlier this month, citing people familiar with the matter. In July, CXMT filed for IPO counselling with the China Securities Regulatory Commission, a required step before companies can seek a domestic listing. Founded in 2016, the company has advanced its manufacturing to the 16-nm process with a new 16-gigabit DDR5 chip, narrowing the technology gap with industry leaders, according to a January report by semiconductor research firm TechInsights.
