Reuters reports that ChangXin Memory Technologies, or CXMT, China’s largest DRAM maker, plans to begin limited HBM3E production within the next two months. If that happens, China would have a domestic source for the kind of AI memory it needs more and more.
The problem is yield. Reuters puts it at 20% to 30%, which means 70% to 80% of the chips fail. Under normal conditions, that’s a tough basis for large-scale production.
HBM3E matters because it sits close to advanced processors and moves huge amounts of data for the accelerators that train and run large models in data centers. Supply is already tight enough that, according to one earlier estimate, a single major U.S. server buildout could require hundreds of thousands of additional DRAM wafers a month, or roughly 40% of global output.
U.S. export controls are part of the story too. The rules introduced in October 2022, then tightened later, have pushed advanced memory higher up China’s priority list by limiting access to top-end chips and some of the manufacturing tools needed to make them.
Analysts have described this as “loss-making domestic substitution.” Reuters says Beijing is backing the effort through Made in China 2025, dual circulation, and a reported $47.5 billion chip fund.
If you follow AI hardware, keep an eye on this. CXMT still trails SK Hynix and Samsung, and Reuters says its performance is closer to older HBM3. SK Hynix is getting yields near 70%. Samsung is already moving into HBM4 and HBM4E. And the resource cost for each working chip is still high.
You can read the report at Reuters.
Author: Chema Carvajal Sarabia
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