- China’s top DRAM maker is launching a Beijing R&D and pilot line for NAND, aiming to compete with Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron.
- CXMT is already in discussions to supply upcoming NAND chips to AI and supercomputing companies.
- The divide between CXMT (DRAM) and YMTC (NAND) is fading, as both are now encroaching on each other’s core markets.
China’s memory chip industry could be on the verge of a major expansion. CXMT (ChangXin Memory Technologies), China’s largest DRAM manufacturer, is reportedly preparing to enter the NAND Flash market, according to sources familiar with the company’s plans who spoke to Reuters.
With this, CXMT would compete directly with global memory giants such as Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron, while also setting up a new rivalry with fellow Chinese manufacturer YMTC, already a major player in the global NAND market.
CXMT intends to establish a specialized NAND Flash R&D production line within its new Beijing facility. The corporation has also created a research facility in China’s capital, with one project focused on developing NAND technology. For now, the focus will be on research, development, and experimental production, with no date set for the line’s operational launch. CXMT could also cooperate with YMTC to speed up NAND wafer printing.
Most notably, CXMT is already in contact with potential clients. According to a Reuters source, CXMT has been in talks with an artificial intelligence firm about deploying its future NAND chips in storage products for AI systems and supercomputers.
TrendForce says manufacturers are focusing much of their effort on DRAM and HBM memory, which are critical for AI accelerators, indirectly reducing NAND capacity increases. This high demand has created a global memory shortage, and while TrendForce expects the NAND situation to improve in the second half of 2027, these projections may change day to day given how the industry is moving.
CXMT’s entry into the NAND market will also shift the balance within the Chinese sector. Until now, the division of labor was clear: CXMT was the leading Chinese DRAM producer, while YMTC controlled domestic NAND Flash production. Both businesses are known in China as the two biggest stars of the memory sector, but that distinction is beginning to fade as CXMT enters YMTC’s market. This is certainly beneficial to China and the industry, but a more dominant and prominent CXMT will overshadow YMTC. But the “labor intrusion” will not stop there.
Sources suggest that competition might go both ways. According to Reuters, YMTC has already shipped samples of low-power DRAM memory to potential clients, thus entering CXMT’s conventional business. CXMT is reportedly taking the opposite route by entering the NAND sector. Although both companies still lag behind large foreign manufacturers in various technology areas and rely on lower-cost products, supply bottlenecks have given them a considerably more favorable market position in China.
YMTC and CXMT also share the same major competitors: Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron. However, CXMT enters the NAND market with considerable financial backing. Last July, the company raised approximately $8.6 billion in what was Asia’s largest IPO of the year, while also preparing a second memory factory in Beijing. If CXMT ultimately brings its NAND project to mass production, China would go from having one major domestic NAND manufacturer to having two companies competing directly in the market.
With memory prices remaining extremely high and demand continuing to grow, investing in new DRAM and NAND production capacity makes sense. Meanwhile, Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron initially avoided building new factories because they feared a future market downturn could leave them with excess capacity, which would constrain global supply and contribute to the unusually high memory prices seen today.
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Sajjad Hussain is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Tech4Gamers.com. Apart from the Tech and Gaming scene, Sajjad is a Seasonal banker who has delivered multi-million dollar projects as an IT Project Manager and works as a freelancer to provide professional services to corporate giants and emerging startups in the IT space.
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