(Jan 28): ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc has advanced its chipmaking technology in spite of US export controls aimed at capping Chinese companies’ capabilities.
CXMT’s DDR5 dynamic random access memory technology, found in memory modules offered by Gloway, required advanced manufacturing techniques that haven’t previously been seen on the Chinese market, according to research by Canada-based consultancy TechInsights.
“It means that they have found a unique approach to designing and building this chip at commercial scale,” a TechInsights representative told Bloomberg News. “TechInsights did not expect to see this memory until late 2025 or early 2026.”
The discovery highlights how Chinese companies are developing resilience in the face of wide-ranging US export controls designed to limit China’s chipmaking capabilities. These prevented US firms from providing technologies or equipment capable of making DRAM chips with an 18nm or smaller “half pitch” distance between transistors without Washington’s approval. CXMT’s latest chip has a 16nm half pitch. Semiconductors made with smaller nanometre distances offer better performance and power density.
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek shocked the world this week with a model that it said rivalled or outperformed leading US developers such as OpenAI on a range of industry benchmarks.
DDR5, which first became commercially available in 2020, is the mainstream DRAM product now offered by industry leaders including SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co. It can be used to make high-bandwidth memory chips required by AI accelerators developed by the likes of Nvidia Corp.
Still, CXMT’s latest tech trails behind the Korean duo and US-based Micron Technology Inc by about three years, according to TechInsights.
In the same research, TechInsights also found Yangtze Memory Technologies Co to have become more competitive against the industry leaders.
CXMT’s breakthrough follows other Chinese companies’ achievements in advanced technologies, including Huawei Technologies Co Ltd’s development of a cutting-edge 7nm processor with Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.
Uploaded by Arion Yeow