Despite having just 10 years under its belt, CXMT has gradually become an influential player in the chipmaking game. Thanks to U.S. export controls that have effectively cut China off from acquiring advanced extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography tools, CXMT has made all its progress with trailing-edge deep ultraviolet (DUV) chipmaking tools. The company's 16nm (G4) node is its current flagship manufacturing process, which CMXT uses to produce DDR5 and LPDDR5X chips, or the same ones found in recent Corsair, Gloway, and KingBank memory kits. Whether the use of CXMT DRAM becomes more widespread as a result of the AI supply crunch remains to be seen.
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Zhiye Liu is a news editor, memory reviewer, and SSD tester at Tom\u2019s Hardware. Although he loves everything that\u2019s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-24/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Zhiye Liu News Editor, RAM Reviewer & SSD Technician Zhiye Liu is a news editor, memory reviewer, and SSD tester at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.
erazog The Chinese memory makers don't have technology to produce HBM, that's the reason why they are still pumping out regular DRAM, if they were able to make HBM they would be chasing that premium market just like every other memory maker. Reply
ezst036 Actually, this is good news for us. Should make our prices go down. Or at least have a stabilization for a bit. Reply
ejolson For me the on-die ECC without monitoring makes it difficult for an end user to judge the quality of a DDR5 module and predict the time until failure. For this reason, there could be lots of hidden variation in quality between vendors that's difficult to detect. Like many, the solution here is to extend the life of existing DDR4-based computers. Yeah, row hammer is a problem. Reply
drea.drechsler bigdragon said: The only thing that matters is if the CXMT and YMTC RAM products bring the performance or not. Price and performance are king. … For consumers, absolutely. But I am comforted knowing 'shenanigans' are highly unlikely or impossible in this particular component in the PC. I also find the article title odd since Samsung, Micron and Hynix had turned their backs on Corsair, HP, Dell and every other consumer PC mfr. a while ago. At least according to what I've been reading ever since the AI bubble hit. That threw the door wide open for the Chinese mfr's to enter the market and start to build a reputation. If they perform well the market will never be the same even after the bubble bursts. Just slow down the random character brand names like the junk you run into on Amazon. Develop a brand. Reply
dva852 Like many, the solution here is to extend the life of existing DDR4-based computers. Motherboard vendors are adopting HUDIMM (half-unbufffered DIMM) with BIOS updates. As the name says, it halves DDR5's dual 32-bit sub-channels to one, along with halving IC count. https://videocardz.com/newz/msi-adds-hudimm-support-to-intel-800-700-and-600-motherboards Bandwidth is also halved, so you essentially get DDR4 performance. Gaming is marginally impacted, I think DDR4's 5-10% is a good estimate. Most consumer uses aren't bandwidth-bound, so it won't be noticeable, again like DDR4 vs DDR5. Video creation/editing will take a hit, as obviously anything AI related. The largest hit for consumers is iGPU, for which perf will be halved. This affects laptops. HSoDIMM will still be adopted, but is geared toward Chromebooks and low-end (~$300). Memory prices won't come down any time soon. Going forward, you'll have a choice of "tradditional" DDR5 DIMM with hefty premium, or HUDIMM DDR5 (DDR4 equiv) for significantly less. Motherboards will support either type (not sure about both at same time). This is better than investing in dead-end DDR4 setup. Edit: Google Gemini on using mixed memory types, Yes, a supported motherboard can run both a HUDIMM and a normal UDIMM at the same time. This is called asymmetric mixing , and motherboard manufacturers like ASRock explicitly engineered support for it into their BIOS updates. How It Works: The "Flex Mode" Behavior When you mix a standard DDR5 stick (which has two 32-bit sub-channels) and a HUDIMM stick (which only has one 32-bit sub-channel), the motherboard's memory controller drops into an asymmetric mode. The Matching Half: The motherboard will pair the single 32-bit sub-channel of the HUDIMM with one of the 32-bit sub-channels on your normal DDR5 stick. This specific portion of your memory will run in dual-channel mode (optimized performance). The Leftover Half: The second 32-bit sub-channel on your normal DDR5 stick is left without a partner. That remaining portion of the memory will drop back into single-channel mode (slower performance). Because of this, your system will technically function perfectly fine, but your memory performance will be uneven depending on which part of the RAM your computer is actively trying to use at any given second. Reply
dva852 Just slow down the random character brand names like the junk you run into on Amazon. Develop a brand. There is good financial reason for this practice. Vendors need to be enrolled in the Amazon Brand Registry to have various benefits, such as combatting counterfeits, custom storefronts, etc. To qualify, vendors need to have a registered or pending trademark with US Patent and Trademark Office. Without a trademark, the name can be hijacked by any other vendor with a lower price. Getting a trademark with USPTO is slow, expensive, and strict. Application can take months and cost hundreds of dollars. And getting one is not a sure thing, when you are using common English words that may match or are similar to existing trademarks. That barrier disappears when you use meaningless nonsense words, as risk of trademark conflict is minimal. You'll get near-instant USPTO approval, and thus qualify for ABR above. The second reason is that for Chinese vendors brands aren't important–price is–and are more or less disposable. For this tier, people buy mainly on price. And given the vagaries of selling on Amazon, if a brand fails for whatever reason, vendor can simply create another brand. A "brand" to typical (Western) buyer is a store of trust. For many Amazon vendors, a brand is a facilitator to selling their goods. It's two different things. Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/ram/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/ram/chinese-memory-vendors-snub-industry-giants-in-favor-of-homegrown-ram-chips-samsung-micron-and-sk-hynix-face-a-chinese-supply-chain-revolt#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/membership
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