Chinese Memory-Chip Makers Pose Long-Term Challenge to Korean Giants

This article was first published by The Korea Times in a partnership with the South China Morning Post. Two of China’s leading memory-chip makers are moving closer to public listings, posing a significant long-term challenge to South Korean giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, despite a limited immediate threat, according to analysts. ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), China’s leading dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) producer, won approval last week for its nearly 30-billion-yuan (US$4.4 billion) initial public offering (IPO) in Shanghai, while NAND flash champion Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp (YMTC) has begun IPO preparations and could formally submit a listing application as early as June, with proceeds directed at equipment and research and development. The twin listing efforts come as both companies benefit from a global memory upcycle driven by artificial intelligence demand. More importantly, analysts said they reflected a broader shift in China’s semiconductor industry, where memory makers were evolving from technology catch-up players into increasingly credible competitors in global markets. The IPO approval for CXMT was “very significant,” said Ray Wang, a Seoul-based semiconductor analyst at SemiAnalysis. “(It) is one incremental proof that Chinese memory companies are increasingly mature and structurally competitive against their US and Korean peers, although technology-wise they are still a few years behind.”