While concerns have grown that the existing dominant position of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix may be threatened by the pursuit of CXMT (Changxin Memory Technologies), a leading Chinese memory semiconductor maker, domestic industry players are drawing a clear line.
They argue that multi-year technological gaps still exist in key products, and that CXMT's technical capabilities have not yet been validated in the global market. Experts point out that while vigilance is warranted, excessive anxiety detached from reality will only cause market confusion.
According to semiconductor industry sources on Tuesday, it is widely assessed that CXMT's technological level lags behind the world's top leading companies by approximately three years. When examining key products in the memory market, in the case of HBM (High Bandwidth Memory), which has emerged as a core component of AI infrastructure, no official generational mass production announcements have been confirmed from CXMT at the corporate level.
There have only been speculative reports suggesting that CXMT is mass-producing HBM3 (4th generation) and similar products, but there is no evidence that it has supplied related products to global big tech companies.
In contrast, Samsung Electronics not only began mass production of HBM4 (6th generation) in February this year but also provided samples of HBM4E (7th generation) to major customers in May last month. Since Korean companies such as SK hynix had already begun mass production of HBM3 in 2023, the gap with CXMT can be seen as at least three years.
The difference is also clear in DDR5 (Double Data Rate 5), currently a mainstream DRAM product. Samsung Electronics, the world's number one player, began official mass production of DDR5 using 14-nanometer EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) lithography in October 2021. CXMT announced its mass production only about four years later, in November last year.
In the case of LPDDR (Low Power DRAM), used in mobile products and others, the technological gap has narrowed to about one to two years. Regarding the latest product, LPDDR5X, Samsung Electronics announced mass production in August 2024 and currently produces it at speeds of 10.7 Gbps (10.7 gigabits per second). CXMT disclosed last October that it had developed an LPDDR5X with similar speed.
However, Samsung Electronics completed the development of the next-generation product, LPDDR6, for the first time in the world at the end of last year and has finished preparations for mass production, now waiting for the market to mature. CXMT officially announced its mass production last month.
Moreover, industry views hold that it is difficult to verify CXMT's product development or mass production announcements. Typically, semiconductors go through procedures such as "development - sample provision - customer verification - mass production," but there is no way to confirm factors directly related to competitiveness, such as yield (the ratio of good products), in the case of Chinese companies during this process.
In simple terms, it means that even if 9 out of 10 units are defective, a company could claim development success simply by producing one functional unit.
Voices are emerging that "figures" such as market share expansion must be examined in their broader context. According to market research firm Omdia, CXMT's global DRAM market share (based on revenue), which was only 1.8% in 2022, surged to 9.4% in the second quarter of this year.
Analysts attribute this to the unique characteristics of a market experiencing a semiconductor super-boom. Rather than CXMT breaking into the market by building competitiveness through technological development, it is seen as having benefited from a trickle-down effect because the production capacity of the Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Micron triopoly could not meet surging demand.
In fact, Omdia forecast that the global DRAM market will grow by 311.2% this year alone. In this process, it is observed that the situation where products from Samsung and SK Hynix and others are "unavailable due to high demand" has intensified, allowing CXMT to exploit this gap by selling memory products with relatively lower technological capabilities to domestic companies such as Huawei, thereby increasing its market share.
The semiconductor industry is focusing on the "ecosystem" regarding the pursuit by Chinese companies. This is because, in the era of AI transition, what matters is collaboration among global big tech companies that design entire systems, and Chinese companies are excluded from this flow.
For example, at the "OCP (Open Compute Project) Global Summit 2026," which opened on the 12th (local time) in Silicon Valley, U.S., Samsung Electronics participated as a top-tier sponsor company and showcased results of joint development with leading tech companies such as AMD. In contrast, CXMT did not even participate in the event.
An industry official asked, "No matter how much Chinese companies develop next-generation products and announce mass production, which big tech company would buy them?"
The official then emphasized, "We must consider what position they hold in the global AI ecosystem," adding, "It is important to face reality rather than being swayed by baseless, one-sided marketing announcements, and to find ways to substantively support our companies."
in INDUSTRY
