China’s CXMT reaches 10% of the global DRAM market despite lithographic restrictions

It seems that the severe technological restrictions on China are not completely holding back its local companies. The manufacturer CXMT has just hit the table by taking 10% of global revenue in the DRAM memory market during the second quarter of 2026.

The data, which comes to us from the consulting firm Counterpoint Researchrepresents a brutal year-on-year growth of 150% and a jump of 25% if we compare it with the first three months of the year, where they barely showed 8%. The most meritorious thing about the matter is that they have achieved such progress in the sector with their hands tied, dealing with blockages to access the most cutting-edge lithographic machinery. Next to nothing.

Chair dance among the historical figures of the sector

As expected, this meteoric rise of the Asian firm has caused quite an earthquake in the distribution of the pie. Samsung He continues to look at everyone in the rearview mirror and comfortably retains the 38% of the market. The worst part, without a doubt, goes to SK hynix, which has seen its share deflate to 25%. A major setback if we take into account that just a year ago they boasted of dominating 39%.

For its part, Micron becomes strong in third position, staying with a 24% of global businesswhile Nanya, almost covertly, has managed to double her piece of the pie to reach 2%.

The HBM gold mine

If we go to the juiciest terrain, the highly sought-after HBM memory market, currently governed by the HBM3E and HBM4 formats, the picture changes quite a bit. Here SK hynix continues to take the lead, taking half of the turnover. In any case, it must also be noted that it has lost a lot of steam compared to that previous 64%. Samsung concentrates a not inconsiderable 33% of the segment and Micron keeps the remaining 18%.

And what about CXMT in this segment? Well, at the moment, they are not achieving direct commercial income. Right now, the Chinese manufacturer has just started risk production for the HBM3E format. Basically, they are fine-tuning their products before launching into mass deployment. Now, given what we have seen with its growth in DRAM, it would not be strange if we soon see CXMT eating part of the pie of the large HBM memory companies.