ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) began mass production of its G5 DRAM platform, unveiled September 21 at the World Manufacturing Convention in Hefei. The company reports a 50%+ increase in bare dies per wafer, achieved at an 11.95nm active-area half-pitch. Two 24-gigabit LPDDR5X chips built on the platform, packaged in 496-ball and 245-ball formats for phones and portable devices, are shipping now, according to details reported by TechNode and Tom's Hardware.

The platform relies on older DUV lithography and multi-patterning rather than the EUV tooling used by Samsung and SK Hynix. U.S. export controls block EUV equipment sales to China. Despite that restriction, CXMT has closed most of the technical gap with the two leading manufacturers.

The production ramp coincides with severe DRAM supply tightness. AI data centers are expected to absorb 70% of all high-end DRAM output this year, according to industry estimates cited by Windows Central and other trade outlets. DRAM contract prices rose between 90% and 95% quarter over quarter in early 2026. Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron have shifted capacity toward high-bandwidth memory for AI accelerators, per Counterpoint Research data reported by TechNode, leaving less room for commodity DRAM used in laptops and phones. Micron has said it does not plan major new commodity DRAM fabs before 2026 closes out, choosing to prioritize specialty memory and HBM, per Tom's Hardware.

Against that backdrop, HP and Dell have qualified CXMT's DRAM for notebooks, according to Tom's Hardware and Semafor. Acer and Asus have started asking Chinese supply partners to source locally made memory. TechRadar reports that shipment volumes remain small and largely limited to markets outside the United States. Benzinga's sourcing describes PC makers as deliberately cautious, wary of straining relationships with Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron, on whom they still depend for the bulk of their memory. CXMT reportedly prioritizes much of its output for domestic customers such as Huawei, keeping volumes available to Western PC brands modest.

A year ago, no mainstream PC brand shipped Chinese DRAM in a laptop.

Market-share data confirms the shift. Counterpoint Research figures reported by TechNode put CXMT at 10% of global DRAM revenue in Q2 2026, up from 8% in Q1 and 4% a year earlier. Samsung leads with 39%, followed by SK Hynix at 26% and Micron at 25%. Three years ago CXMT held less than 1%.

Capacity projections point in the same direction. Research cited by Tom's Hardware and TechPowerUp puts CXMT on pace for roughly 350,000 DRAM wafers per month by the end of 2026, versus about 375,000 for Micron. CXMT builds its cleanrooms in around 12 months, compared with 21 to 24 months for the rest of the industry. That construction speed explains how a company without access to advanced lithography can match a top-three incumbent wafer for wafer.

The shortage does not end here. CXMT's export volumes remain small. Its chips appear in a limited set of notebook models, and Washington shows no sign of easing export controls. The strategy behind those controls assumed China could not build competitive memory without EUV. CXMT has now shipped a chip that HP and Dell will put in a laptop, at a moment when global buyers need any supply they can get.

If PC OEMs keep qualifying CXMT parts at this year's pace, the question shifts. It stops being whether China can compete in memory. It becomes how much market share Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron cede while they chase AI margins instead.