Chinese memory makers step up challenge to Korea’s chip champions

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.” The development comes as Chinese memory makers post strong financial results and accelerate expansion plans. CXMT, based in Hefei province, China, reported first-quarter revenue of 50.8 billion yuan, up 719 per cent from a year earlier, while net profit reached 33 billion yuan, reversing a loss in the same period last year, according to figures disclosed in its IPO prospectus. The company is seeking to raise 29.5 billion yuan through its Shanghai Star Market listing, a deal that could become the largest in the market since SMIC’s blockbuster debut in 2020. The offering was expected to value the company at more than 2 trillion yuan, according to market estimates. Proceeds would be used to upgrade production lines and support next-generation DRAM research and development, according to its prospectus. For years, the memory market has been dominated by Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and US-based Micron Technology. The sector is widely regarded as one of the most difficult segments of the semiconductor industry because of its high capital requirements, manufacturing complexity and relentless technology cycles. The dominance of memory chips has also made Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix two of South Korea’s most important corporate profit engines. Their strong earnings have helped fuel a sharp rally in Korean equities this year, contributing to the benchmark KOSPI’s surge and helping South Korea become the world’s sixth-largest stock market by market capitalisation. Yet Chinese players have steadily narrowed the gap. YMTC’s global market share rose from 8 per cent in the first quarter of 2025 to 11 per cent by the fourth quarter, according to data from research firm Counterpoint, making it one of the fastest-growing NAND suppliers globally. By comparison, Samsung remained the market leader with a 27 per cent share, followed by SK Hynix at 22 per cent. CXMT accounted for 5 per cent of the global DRAM market in the fourth quarter of 2025, up from 4 per cent a year earlier, Counterpoint data showed, though still far behind Samsung Electronics’ 36 per cent share, SK Hynix’s 32 per cent. HSBC Qianhai Securities estimated that YMTC’s global shipment share rose from more than 10 per cent in the first quarter of 2025 to 13 per cent by the third quarter, approaching Micron’s 14 per cent share. Once its new Wuhan production line began operating in the second half of this year, YMTC could overtake its rivals to become the world’s third-largest NAND producer, according to the brokerage. Despite such progress, analysts said the immediate threat to Korean companies remained limited. YMTC was now roughly two years behind global leaders in NAND flash technology, while CXMT remained around three years behind in commodity DRAM and approximately four years behind in high-bandwidth memory (HBM), the advanced memory technology used in AI servers, according to Wang’s estimate. HSBC analysts led by Steven Sun described China’s emerging memory champions as a “real but asymmetric threat” in a May report, arguing that they were likely to be more disruptive in mature memory segments than in cutting-edge AI memory products over the next three years. Samsung and SK Hynix continue to dominate HBM, one of the most profitable areas of the semiconductor market, and remain key suppliers to global AI infrastructure companies. Both firms have shifted resources towards advanced memory products as demand from data centres and hyperscale cloud operators continues to surge. That strategic focus, however, may also create opportunities for Chinese rivals. HSBC noted that Samsung and SK Hynix had largely moved away from older-generation memory segments to prioritise HBM and higher-margin products, leaving room for CXMT to gain share in consumer markets such as smartphones, PCs and automotive applications. “The biggest concern (for Korean companies) is always capacity, followed by market share,” Wang said. “Materially bigger capacity with improved shipments could impact future memory supply and demand, which in turn would hit memory pricing.” “Chinese memory makers might gain incremental share in the Chinese market first,” he added. “CXMT can gain share in consumer segments in China, not only for domestic brands but even foreign brands sold in China.”

Chinese memory makers step up challenge to Korea’s chip champions

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}CXMT and YMTC are nearing public listings, giving China’s memory-chip sector fresh firepower in its pursuit of Samsung and SK Hynix

CXMT and YMTC are nearing public listings, giving China’s memory-chip sector fresh firepower in its pursuit of Samsung and SK Hynix