CXMT's 4F² DRAM breakthrough triggers global memory chip selloff
On Oct. 10 CXMT president Cao Kanyu said at the 4th Integrated Chip and Chiplet Conference that the company had made key progress on a 4F² DRAM architecture built around its self-developed VSG vertical-surrounding-gate transistor, and expects to ship next-generation DDR5 RDIMM products combining 4F² with wafer-level hybrid bonding by year-end. Memory stocks then fell hard: Samsung closed down 7.39%, SK Hynix dropped 10.09%, the KOSPI lost 5.46% and triggered a SIDECAR program-trading halt, and Micron slipped below $1,000 a share, while CNBC tied the wider Asia tech rout partly to Fed rate-hike fears and worries about AI investment returns. The report also says CXMT posted first-half revenue of 150.3 billion yuan, up 873.64% year on year, with net profit of 77.6 billion yuan and a global DRAM revenue share that rose from 4% in Q2 2025 to 10% in Q2 2026, though its HBM3E is not expected to reach mass production until 2027, roughly three to four years behind Samsung and SK Hynix.
Memory is shifting from a cyclical commodity to core AI infrastructure, so Chinese progress on DRAM architecture could loosen the pricing power and technology lead long held by Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron.