China's CXMT begins small-batch production of HBM3E memory chips, Alibaba and Cambricon test the domestic AI chip supply
China's CXMT $688825.SH started small-batch HBM3E production, per The Information. Alibaba's T-Head and Cambricon are testing the chips. HBM has been the chokepoint in US chip export controls; a domestic supplier narrows the gap, a generation behind SK Hynix, Samsung.
China's leading memory chipmaker CXMT $688825.SH has started small-batch production of HBM3E, the high-bandwidth memory that feeds AI accelerator chips, according to The Information and Investing.com. Domestic chip designers including Alibaba's T-Head unit and Cambricon Technologies are already testing the silicon for their own AI processors. HBM has been one of the tightest chokepoints in Washington's export controls on advanced AI hardware: SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron have controlled the market, and China's AI chip developers have had to work around shortages of the memory their processors need. A working domestic HBM supplier, even an imperfect one, changes that equation for companies like Alibaba and Cambricon that are building China's homegrown AI chip stack. CXMT still trails the global leaders by roughly a generation: its initial output is HBM3E or HBM3 depending on performance, while SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron are already moving toward HBM4 and HBM4E. Yields on its 8-high stacks are reported at around 25 percent. CXMT went public on Shanghai's STAR Market in July with a debut that made it mainland China's most valuable listed company.