South China Morning Post
January 30, 2025
ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), China's leading producer of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips, has advanced its manufacturing technology to 16 nanometres, narrowing the gap with industry giants Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Micron Technology.
The Hefei-based company has developed a consumer-grade chip using the advanced chipmaking node, a notable achievement amid ongoing US sanctions, according to a report from Canadian integrated circuits (IC) research firm TechInsights. The new 16-gigabit (Gb) chip employs DDR5 technology, which is expected to dominate the DRAM market through 2027.
Measuring about 67 square millimetres, the chip achieves a storage density of 0.239Gb per square millimetre, according to the report. CXMT's latest G4 DRAM technology features memory cells that are 20 per cent smaller than those in its previous G3 technology node.
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CXMT has made "significant progress" since its G1 generation node of 23nm and G2 of 18nm, bringing it much closer to its global rivals in South Korea and the US, according to the report.
The company's advancements serve as a benchmark for China's progress in DRAM memory chips despite US sanctions.
CXMT has not made any mention of the chip on its official website. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
Initially struggling with a low production yield of 20 per cent for its DDR5 chips, CXMT has since achieved an 80 per cent yield rate as it continued to ramp up production.
"The top three DRAM makers started 16Gb DDR5 mass production in 2021, which means there is now a three-year technology gap between CXMT and these vendors," said TechInsights senior analyst Jeongdong Choe, who wrote the report.
South Korea's Samsung and SK Hynix, along with US-based Micron, currently lead the DDR5 memory market with production primarily using 12nm and 14nm nodes.
With this latest offering, CXMT has expanded its memory product portfolio, which also includes DDR3L, DDR4, LPDDR4X, and LPDDR5. TechInsights based its analysis on a teardown of the commercial Gloway DDR5-6000 memory module, which contains 16 of CXMT's 16Gb DDR5 chips.
This breakthrough follows the US decision to exempt China's top DRAM producer from its latest round of chip export restrictions, due to Japanese opposition. The US had considered adding it and 11 other suppliers of Huawei Technologies to its Entity List, which restricts access to American technology.
However, CXMT still faces equipment import restrictions imposed by the US Department of Commerce in October 2022, which aim to limit China's logic chip manufacturing capabilities to the 14nm level and DRAM chips to 18nm half-pitch.
The chipmaker is actively developing next-generation sub-15nm technology without extreme ultraviolet lithography, as well as high-bandwidth memory chips - vertically stacked DRAM chips - for artificial intelligence applications, according to the report.
Copyright (c) 2025. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
January 30, 2025
ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), China's leading producer of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips, has advanced its manufacturing technology to 16 nanometres, narrowing the gap with industry giants Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Micron Technology.
The Hefei-based company has developed a consumer-grade chip using the advanced chipmaking node, a notable achievement amid ongoing US sanctions, according to a report from Canadian integrated circuits (IC) research firm TechInsights. The new 16-gigabit (Gb) chip employs DDR5 technology, which is expected to dominate the DRAM market through 2027.
Measuring about 67 square millimetres, the chip achieves a storage density of 0.239Gb per square millimetre, according to the report. CXMT's latest G4 DRAM technology features memory cells that are 20 per cent smaller than those in its previous G3 technology node.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
CXMT has made "significant progress" since its G1 generation node of 23nm and G2 of 18nm, bringing it much closer to its global rivals in South Korea and the US, according to the report.
The company's advancements serve as a benchmark for China's progress in DRAM memory chips despite US sanctions.
CXMT has not made any mention of the chip on its official website. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
Initially struggling with a low production yield of 20 per cent for its DDR5 chips, CXMT has since achieved an 80 per cent yield rate as it continued to ramp up production.
"The top three DRAM makers started 16Gb DDR5 mass production in 2021, which means there is now a three-year technology gap between CXMT and these vendors," said TechInsights senior analyst Jeongdong Choe, who wrote the report.
South Korea's Samsung and SK Hynix, along with US-based Micron, currently lead the DDR5 memory market with production primarily using 12nm and 14nm nodes.
With this latest offering, CXMT has expanded its memory product portfolio, which also includes DDR3L, DDR4, LPDDR4X, and LPDDR5. TechInsights based its analysis on a teardown of the commercial Gloway DDR5-6000 memory module, which contains 16 of CXMT's 16Gb DDR5 chips.
This breakthrough follows the US decision to exempt China's top DRAM producer from its latest round of chip export restrictions, due to Japanese opposition. The US had considered adding it and 11 other suppliers of Huawei Technologies to its Entity List, which restricts access to American technology.
However, CXMT still faces equipment import restrictions imposed by the US Department of Commerce in October 2022, which aim to limit China's logic chip manufacturing capabilities to the 14nm level and DRAM chips to 18nm half-pitch.
The chipmaker is actively developing next-generation sub-15nm technology without extreme ultraviolet lithography, as well as high-bandwidth memory chips - vertically stacked DRAM chips - for artificial intelligence applications, according to the report.
Copyright (c) 2025. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.