CXMT Achieves 80% Yield for DDR5 Chips, HBM2 Production and Capacity Expansion Underway

[AleksandarK]

According to a recent Citigroup analysis, CXMT, China's domestic memory chipmaker, is demonstrating significant progress in its DDR5 production yields. The company's DDR5 yield rates had reached approximately 80%, marking a substantial improvement from its initial 50% yields when production began. This progress builds on CXMT's experience with DDR4 manufacturing, where the company has achieved yields of around 90%. The company currently operates two fab facilities in Hefei, with Fab 1 dedicated to DDR4 production on 19 nm process technology and a 100,000 wafer per month capacity. Fab 2 focuses on DDR5 production using 17 nm technology, with a current capacity of 50,000 wafers per month. CXMT's DDR5 yields could improve further to approximately 90% by the end of 2025.

Despite these improvements, CXMT faces technological challenges compared to industry leaders. The company's current production process is 19 nm for DDR4 and 17 nm for DDR5, lagging behind competitors like Samsung and SK Hynix, which manufacture 12 nm DDR5 chips. This technology gap results in higher power consumption and less favorable form factors for CXMT's products. The company primarily targets domestic Chinese smartphone and computing OEM customers. Looking ahead, CXMT plans to expand its DDR5 and HBM capabilities, with a potential additional capacity of 50,000 wafers per month at Fab 2 in 2025, if market conditions prove favorable. The company is also making progress on HBM2 development, with customer sampling underway and low-volume production expected to begin in mid-2025.



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[kondamin]

I would very much like it if hbm even if it's just 2 became wider available

 

[john_]

This technology gap results in higher power consumption and less favorable form factors for CXMT's products.

They will be fine for desktops. Probably even slower in performance, but enough to drop prices down in a year or two.

 

[Wirko]

drop prices down

If Lexar SSD prices (with YMTC NAND) are any indication, Chinese memory manufacturers are eager to pay the membership fee for the cartel.

 

[john_]

Lexar

Lexar is a known brand, it will put it's logo price on top of the product cost and just make higher profits. How about Netac or other Chinese brands?

 

[Prima.Vera]

Hopefully this would drive price off. Higher process usually means higher frequency, but lesser capacity?
Well, give me please some very tight DDR5-8000 OR 9000 32GB kits, and is all good.

 

[Wirko]

Hopefully this would drive price off. Higher process usually means higher frequency, but lesser capacity?
Well, give me please some very tight DDR5-8000 OR 9000 32GB kits, and is all good.

The article also mentions "less favorable form factors for CXMT's products". I guess DIMMs will be at least 35% larger in each dimension, har har.

 

[Crackong]

to drop prices down

They didn't, and they won't.

Being lagged behind the competition means less profit.
Less profit means less room for price cuts.

 

[kondamin]

They didn't, and they won't.

Being lagged behind the competition means less profit.
Less profit means less room for price cuts.

More suppliers mean More supply on the market which in turn means lower prices.

i wish there was a Chinese manufacturer of spinning rust storage
hey don’t even need to compete with the top end to make a significant difference there

 

[Vayra86]

I would very much like it if hbm even if it's just 2 became wider available

Be careful what you wish for, AMD might do another Fury>Vega attempt and we'll get a repeat of that fiasco all over again
The board is set... they're re-living Polaris as we speak. Its almost like fashion, same trends keep passing us by it seems lol

 

[Wirko]

I would very much like it if hbm even if it's just 2 became wider available

HBM needs about 2x as much die space for the same capacity compared to DDR - because it's optimised for other parameters, not high density and low price. That won't change.

 

[ir_cow]

More suppliers mean More supply on the market which in turn means lower prices.

i wish there was a Chinese manufacturer of spinning rust storage
hey don’t even need to compete with the top end to make a significant difference there

You can already get HDDs from AliExpress, how much better can it get

 

[TumbleGeorge]

HBM needs about 2x as much die space for the same capacity compared to DDR - because it's optimised for other parameters, not high density and low price. That won't change.

Hmm, but around the die there would be a lot of free space devoid of the GDDR chips that are now there. And regarding the density, it is not true at the moment. The fact is that with just a few stacks the computing cards already have several times more capacity, if I am not mistaken already 256GB in the Instinct mi325x, which is over 10.5 times more than the RTX 4090.

 

[kondamin]

HBM needs about 2x as much die space for the same capacity compared to DDR - because it's optimised for other parameters, not high density and low price. That won't change.

I was under the impression hbm was stacked ddr memory each layer having its own bus to A controller they are stacked on top of.

to me that makes it sound like it’s very much optimised for density

 

[Wirko]

I was under the impression hbm was stacked ddr memory each layer having its own bus to A controller they are stacked on top of.

to me that makes it sound like it’s very much optimised for density

The stacks are crazy dense for sure. The dies aren't, so one bit takes 2x the die area. It costs 2x as much to manufacture *if* both HBM and DDR are on the same node, with same number of lithography layers, same die size etc.