China's CXMT says its new DRAM platform matches Samsung and SK Hynix on process technology

Chinese memory chipmaker CXMT has begun mass production of its fifth-generation DRAM platform, with the company claiming its process capabilities now match those of the world's most advanced producers — a claim that, if accurate, marks a significant narrowing of the gap between China's memory industry and the Korean and American manufacturers that have long dominated it.

CXMT Vice President Luo Xiaodong made the announcement at the 2026 World Manufacturing Convention in Hefei, Anhui province on Saturday, stating that the G5 platform's 11.95nm active-area half-pitch — achieved through self-aligned quadruple patterning (SAQP) — puts the company's process technology on par with the industry's current production leaders.

The Technical Case

SAQP is the same patterning approach Samsung and SK Hynix use to push DRAM density beyond what EUV lithography achieves on its own. Reaching 11.95nm with this technique puts CXMT in the same manufacturing tier as the latest-generation DRAM from the three dominant players — Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron — at least on the patterning dimension.

The G5 platform also delivers a substantial yield improvement: at least 50% more dies per wafer compared to CXMT's fourth-generation platform on equivalent 8Gb chips. That increase directly cuts per-chip manufacturing cost and is the metric that matters most for competing on price in commodity DRAM markets.

Already in Phones

CXMT simultaneously announced two new 24Gb LPDDR5X products built on G5. These chips — aimed at the smartphone market — offer 50% more capacity than CXMT's previous-generation equivalents. Crucially, the new chips are already shipping in flagship devices from major Chinese smartphone brands, meaning the G5 platform has cleared production validation rather than simply being a conference announcement.

What It Means for the Market

For Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron, CXMT's G5 claims represent the most credible competitive challenge yet from China's memory sector. CXMT's market has so far been primarily domestic — Chinese smartphone and electronics manufacturers — but if G5 delivers at scale, the company will have the cost structure to compete more broadly in mainstream DRAM segments.

China's memory chip ambitions have been a consistent target of US export controls, which restrict CXMT's access to the most advanced lithography equipment. The SAQP approach is partly a workaround for those restrictions — achieving leading-edge density through multiple patterning steps rather than requiring next-generation EUV tools. That CXMT appears to have made it work at volume is the most significant technical signal from Saturday's announcement.

As reported by Pandaily and the South China Morning Post.