As the memory shortage intensifies with no hope on the horizon, major PC OEMs are starting to look elsewhere for potential solutions, or at least temporary relief. One of these options could be China’s CXMT, which has been improving its technology and production at a fast pace.
As AI datacentres gobble everything that comes out of Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron fabs, client-side OEMs find themselves fighting for scraps, all while paying exorbitant prices for that privilege. So, as DRAM prices have more than tripled in the last quarter, these OEMs are considering alternative sources, i.e. China. According to Nikkei Asia, HP, Dell, Acer, and Asus are in the process of validating CXMT’s DDR5 products, especially the higher-capacity variants.
Though less known outside of China, CXMT is a major memory manufacturer, capable of producing the latest DRAM standards in multiple formats and interfaces, be it regular consumer UDIMM or server/datacenter RDIMM, MRDIMM, and TFF MRDIMM. For instance, the brand has recently unveiled its homegrown DDR5-8000 and LPDDR5X-10667 at the 2025 China International Semiconductor Expo, offering performance not far from Micron/Samsung’s latest solutions.
CXMT has indicated these memory chips are available in 12Gb or 16Gb for LPDDR5X and 16Gb or 24Gb for DDR5 module formats. This means that it can build up to 48GB dual-rank DDR5 modules for consumers, and up to 96GB quad-rank modules for servers. That said, despite the company’s impressive progress, it remains approximately three years behind Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron in terms of manufacturing capabilities, though not bad considering CXMT doesn’t have access to the latest EUV lithography equipment.
At the moment, there is no timeline for when said OEMs plan to debut using CXMT’s modules on retail products. It is also unknown if consumers would accept the change, as some can be reluctant to try Chinese-made goods. Yet, even if consumers are willing to give CXMT a chance, politics and regulations could end up blocking the process altogether. Time will tell.
