China's CXMT closes DRAM gap with rivals

China's leading Dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) maker says it has closed a meaningful chunk of the gap with the industry's biggest memory-chip suppliers. 

CXMT announced Sunday that its fifth-generation technology platform has entered mass production, a milestone the Hefei-based company says puts its manufacturing process on par with the most advanced nodes currently used by rivals.

DRAM chips serve as the short-term working memory that phones and computers rely on to run apps, and CXMT's new platform is built to pack more of that memory into less space.

The company reduced the spacing of key data-storing structures to 11.95 nanometres, achieved through a technique called quadruple patterning that repeats manufacturing steps to produce finer circuit patterns.

Tighter spacing means more memory fits on a single chip, and more individual chips can be cut from each silicon wafer.

However, besides the platform announcement, CXMT launched two 24-gigabit LPDDR5X solutions, which are a type of power-efficient DRAM solution that is popularly found in mobile devices.

These chips are 50% more capacious compared to CXMT’s previous generation and have gone into mass production in two packaging forms.

The fifth-generation platform is able to generate 50% more gross chip dies per wafer compared to the fourth-generation platform using 8-gigabit as the benchmark.

As one of the few memory chip suppliers that debuted this year on the STAR market in Shanghai, CXMT has positioned itself as another supplier for electronics companies who rely on Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology.

Vice President of CXMT, Luo Xiaodong, made the claims during the 2026 World Manufacturing Convention in Hefei, where he stated that the company’s process technology is already on par with the latest mass-production nodes used by the industry, which, if proven true independently, will narrow the technological gap of China’s technology significantly.

CXMT said it developed the platform through computer simulations and joint work with domestic chip-equipment makers on critical production steps, a detail that points to Beijing's broader push to reduce dependence on foreign semiconductor technology.