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Memory giants like Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron scramble to build high-bandwidth chips for AI servers. So, everyday electronics are running into a serious memory crunch. Amid this scenario, China’s biggest DRAM manufacturer, ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), is seizing on that gap by pouring billions into expanding its factories and signing massive memory supply deals with tech giants. This could lead to the recently suggested RAM oversupply in 2029.
Building giant factories to double wafer output
CXMT currently produces around 320,000 DRAM wafers a month, but that number is set to climb fast. Fresh off an $8.66 billion IPO on Shanghai’s STAR Market and backed by heavy state support, the company is building new fabrication plants in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hefei. According to TrendForce and Counterpoint Research, CXMT plans to add 100,000 wafers to its monthly capacity within a year, eventually aiming for 600,000 wafers per month by 2028 (via Wccftech).
Scoring massive deals with ByteDance, Tencent, and Apple
As standard DRAM supplies tighten across the globe, major tech companies are turning to CXMT to keep their supply chains moving. The Chinese chipmaker recently signed a $3 billion contract with Tencent and a five-year deal worth over $7 billion with ByteDance. Even Apple has explored buying CXMT memory for devices built and sold inside China. Surprisingly, the memory shortage gives CXMT enough leverage to play hardball on pricing. The company refused Apple’s requests for discounts and actually charged some domestic buyers over $1,240 for 64GB DDR5 server modules—a price higher than Samsung’s going rate.
Next-gen 4F-squared memory sparks market debate
CXMT also raised eyebrows when President Cao Kanyu announced plans to release next-generation DDR5 server memory by late 2026. Built on a 4F-squared cell architecture, the design shrinks individual memory cells by roughly a third. The announcement briefly sent stock prices for Samsung and SK Hynix falling over 7% and 10%. However, industry experts from Hanyang University and Samsung Securities caution that building a working prototype is very different from mass-producing it cheaply. With Samsung and SK Hynix developing their own 4F-squared designs, CXMT still needs to prove its new architecture can deliver high manufacturing yields without driving up production costs.