Tech war: China memory chip maker CXMT may have made a breakthrough amid US sanctions, paper indicates
- ChangXin Memory Technologies presented a paper involving advanced gate-all-around transistors to the 69th annual IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting
- Analysts say evidence of progress by CXMT is ‘impressive’ and shows that the firm is not far away from state-of-the-art research and products
A leading Chinese memory chip maker may have achieved another technological breakthrough amid tight US trade restrictions, according to third-party analysis of a company paper delivered to an international conference.
ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), China’s top dynamic random access memory (DRAM) developer, this week presented a paper to the 69th annual IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in San Francisco, giving an indication of its design capabilities for gate-all-around (GAA) transistors – the most advanced transistor type for cutting-edge 3-nanometre grade chips.
While CXMT has not provided a sample product, evidence that the Chinese company has an understanding of next-generation memory chip production has grabbed the attention of industry analysts, as the design of such chips typically involves technologies that are subject to US export restrictions.
Frederick Chen, a memory chip expert at Winbond Electronics, a Taiwan-based company, said the evidence of progress by CXMT is “impressive”, as it shows that the Chinese company is not far away from state-of-the-art research and products.
“It’s significant because Samsung Electronics is trying to do the same,” Chen said.
In a statement to the South China Morning Post on Wednesday, CXMT said the paper “describes fundamental research related to DRAM structure and the feasibility of 4F2 design” and “it has nothing to do with CXMT’s current production processes”, suggesting that the design on paper is far from becoming a marketable product.
“Any accusation that CXMT is violating US sanctions or export controls is completely inaccurate,” the company’s export control experts said. “We firmly believe that the free flow of ideas that IEDM seeks to foster is essential for the industry’s innovation and development.”
CXMT said two weeks ago that it had produced China’s first lower power Double Data Rate 5 (LPDDR5) DRAM chip, narrowing its gap with leading players such as South Korea’s Samsung and SK Hynix.