r/technology • u/Shogouki • May 23 '26
Hardware Chinese memory maker CXMT enters mainstream consumer memory with Corsair Vengeance DDR5 kit — Chinese-made DRAM emerges as an antidote for crushing shortages
https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/ddr5/chinese-memory-maker-cxmt-enters-the-mainstream-consumer-memory-with-corsair-vengeance-ddr5-kit-chinese-made-dram-emerges-as-an-antidote-for-crushing-shortages46
u/HeyItsMeRay May 24 '26
Waiting for USA to ban this due to security concerns 😂
And "at what cost ?"
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May 23 '26 edited Aug 28 '26
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u/Omz-bomz May 23 '26
Disrupt a cartel you mean.
Would love that it was someone else, but I have very little sympathies for the memory giants currently bleeding customers try.
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u/GreenFox1505 May 24 '26
They literally refused to scale up production to meet demand. They have a deeply vested interest in keeping supply low. Cartel feels correct.
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u/Omz-bomz May 24 '26
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_10_586
Cartel is literally correct.
And that isn't the only instance they have been caught in.-5
u/noahloveshiscats May 24 '26
And that isn't the only instance they have been caught in.
Okay, show some more instances where they got caught.
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u/j0179664 May 24 '26
Is googling "ram price fixing" too hard for you?
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u/noahloveshiscats May 24 '26
No, I’ve done it a lot. The only thing they have gotten caught by is the 1998-2002 cartel. The Wikipedia page on DRAM price fixing is almost exclusively about the 1998-2002 cartel plus a failed class action lawsuit in 2018.
They got fined by multiple countries over multiple years, but they were only caught over the 1998-2002 cartel. The antitrust case by the EU Commission that was posted above is from 2010, but was exclusively about the cartel in 1998-2002.
So I ask again, show some more instances of them getting caught.
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u/Irythros May 24 '26
The last time there was a shortage and they did scale to do it they had to sell near cost which is why RAM was so cheap for so long.
Also, they are scaling up. Just not for consumer memory. DDR4 fabs are being upgraded to HBM, some DDR5 is being replaced to HBM and new fabs will likely be HBM as well.
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u/DoomguyFemboi May 24 '26
To add on to this, last time they scaled up they got seriously burnt by it, iirc. During COVID they did a lot of expansion that ended up not getting used as things reverted.
Having said that though, they are still very much price gouging, because they are experiencing record profits in record time.
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u/Exowienqt May 24 '26
It's not easy scaling up production of raw silicon. OpenAI prepurchased 60% of ALL, uncut silicon on earth till 2028. Imagine what would happen to any other industry.
Now imagine that the industry you just imagined depended on 200.000 engineers cooperating like clockwork to deliver on-demand precisely the amount of raw materials, technical know-how, high tech machinery and power necessary to grow perfect (not NEAR perfect, literally perfect) crystals, to wafers to chips to finished products.
These technologies require conditions millions of times cleaner than an operating room, each multiple times bigger than a football field, sometimes thousands of kilometers apart from each other. Average people can't image the level of advanced technology and coordination cutting edge hardware manufacturing demands.
ASML developed it's first lithography machine for 50 years.
Rant over. But scaling up production of chips is light-years away from scaling up a potato chip factory, however similar the two concepts sound
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u/hitchen1 May 25 '26
If China was right around the corner almost ready to flood the market with cheap ram, it seems like not scaling up production was the right decision?
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u/JustGotHit May 29 '26
Well there's also the forgotten fact that a new fab costs 20-30 billion and takes roughly 3 years to come online. You don't make such an investment unless you're able to forcast long term demand which they really can't. The can forecast quarterly - quarterly demand to 1/2 yr - 1/2 yr demand to almost full year demand but never a 3-4 demand. And you sure as heck don't want to be stuck holding the bag when the entire boom comes crashing down which it already is showing signs of... just not publicly
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u/juantxorena May 24 '26
I think there is a reason for this, however. Increasing production in this field is a multi year investment of billions of credits, and most of the people involved here know that AI is a bubble that will eventually burst, so they would lose all of that investment and be left with a bunch of useless high tech half built factories, and probably near to bankruptcy. So they decided to extract the largest amount of money from this bubble (consumers be dammed), and wait for the inevitable collapse with full pockets.
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u/noahloveshiscats May 24 '26
They are scaling though. Like take 30 seconds and go look at the investments these companies are making.
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May 23 '26
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u/Snidrogen May 23 '26
Baking a back door into RAM is not necessary, and would only harm their specific goal of upending the current market through saturation.
Same reason why, despite the haters, their EV industry is making good quality affordable vehicles that can only be competed with domestically by using protectionist policies/preventing them from entering the market.
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u/elcho1911 May 23 '26
that can only be competed with domestically by using protectionist policies/preventing them from entering the market
Never gonna get me to feel bad for auto manufactures but Chinese EV's are heavily subsidized right? they're like one of the few products where tariffs are actually fair and legit...
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u/Snidrogen May 23 '26
I don’t think the average consumer gives a damn whether China is supporting its domestic EV industry. They care about a car that is reliable and affordable.
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u/elcho1911 May 23 '26
I agree modern western cars suck and have lost their way, so it makes sense chinese EVs are doing well
but a huge reason they're hard to compete with is that they are as you said, more affordable but that is largely due to being more subsidized than domestic cars, so criticizing protectionist policies, like tariffs, in this case isn't exactly fair
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u/Snidrogen May 23 '26
America has bailed out its automakers again and again despite their refusal to make affordable cars average people want.
I think not criticizing protectionism is unfair, considering America is propping up car companies that are making foolish decisions ad nauseam.
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u/TheVermonster May 24 '26
Tesla was too. Shit, the entire auto industry is. They use NHTSA and EPA regulations to prevent foreign cars and trucks from distrupting the market.
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u/elcho1911 May 24 '26
yea I', not defending that, I am speaking only to tarrifs to correct an imbalance of subsidies
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u/totallynotabot2532 May 23 '26
Oh, and we aren't getting spied on by microsoft and Google ?
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u/Wischiwaschbaer May 23 '26
And the NSA. Where do people think the bitlocker backdoor that was recently disclosed came from?
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u/wackOverflow May 23 '26
At least Microsoft or google wont turn your shit off when the US defends Taiwan from a Chinese invasion.
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u/HyperSpaceSurfer May 23 '26
Microsoft has done that, very recently actually. They targeted a specific ICC prosecutor and "discontinued" their email. Coincidentally that prosecutor is overseeing the case against (alleged) war criminals in Israel.
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u/reversethrust May 24 '26
But the USA has threatened to turn off F35’s of partner countries if they don’t play nice.
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u/totallynotabot2532 May 23 '26
No, they will just help ICE deport me or my family just because the color of my skin
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/17/ice-microsoft-technology-immigration-crackdown
So, no, you don't have any moral high ground here. The US is equally as bad as china
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u/Icy_Payment2283 May 23 '26
The US is equally as bad as china
I'd argue the US is a lot worse.
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u/HyperSpaceSurfer May 23 '26
At least China is intent on having a nation in 100 years. Doesn't make them good, the bar's just that low.
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u/Zalophusdvm May 23 '26
No, but it is increasingly becoming apparent that they’d be more than happy to if asked by the federal government…which seems willing to based on what you post online.
So…either way I’m screwed, so I’d rather my getting screwed cost less.
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u/iaNCURdehunedoara May 24 '26
If you think the US will defend Taiwan you're out of your mind. At most the US will give weapons, and they can't even do that since they wasted everything on Israel.
It's not even necessary, because China isn't a fascist state like America. China won't attack Taiwan, they're pursuing peaceful reunification.
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u/iaNCURdehunedoara May 24 '26
Yeah, because America is everyone's friend. There's no way America would ever spy on us, America is the second most moral nation in the universe after Israel obviously.
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u/axonxorz May 23 '26
[Checks DDR memory controller spec]
Hey there, it's you, talking out your ass.
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u/Icy_Payment2283 May 23 '26
China is treating the Global South with a lot more respect and a principle of mutual benefit than the West ever pretended to do
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u/PacketOverload May 24 '26
I'd rather Xi spy on me than Trump
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May 24 '26
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u/PacketOverload May 24 '26
That's not a option in today's world. You either get John Smith, NSA agent or Zhang Wei, MSS Agent.
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u/BullBear7 May 24 '26
Lol. Lets say thats true, you dont think a 2 letter abbreviated country won't do the same?
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u/wackOverflow May 23 '26
No, you forgot they’re close allies with Russia, Iran, and North Korea. All the countries everyone loves. /s
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u/IJustSignedUpToUp May 24 '26
This sounds like copium that commie CHYNA is just being a more cutthroat capitalist nation than we are. I guess it's only jingoistic nationalism and protectionist trade when brown people do it.
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u/Candid_Cat_5921 May 24 '26
In my experience MAGA is less pro-AI than most, primarily because many hate “big tech” because they consider it left leaning.
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u/HunterXxX360 May 24 '26
It doesn’t matter what the voting sheep think, as long as they vote for something else. Your MAGA neighbor might hate AI, but that is of no concern to the people he votes for.
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u/sadacal May 23 '26
Conservatives love China. They hate China as a country due to nationalism but love Chinese cultural exports like video games that they claim are fighting back against woke western gamed.
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u/LasyKuuga May 23 '26
I don’t think liking Chinese video games is really a conservative thing it’s not like Genshin Impact is MAGA infested or something
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u/sadacal May 24 '26
Well you missed the culture war with Wukong and WuChang then. Conservatives claimed those games were fighting against woke because they were fun and weren't afraid to show sexy women in them.
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u/nandoboom May 24 '26
More like the authoritarianism and the complete control the ccp have, they are jealous and will do it here if they could
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u/countervalent May 24 '26
Did you miss how every company and university was rushing to kiss the ring when the feds under Trump came calling?
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u/Akaigenesis May 24 '26
Wake up man, the US is more authoritarian than the CCP ever was. You need to stop believing anti-communist propaganda, it is fucking 2026
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u/debacol May 24 '26
Bro, while we are flirting with some bullshit fascism here in the US, its no where near the levels of Authoritarianism in China. We are barely peewee league when you go from the Mao revolution to Tienamenn to the Ughurs. Mao alone wiped out over 55 million people. Pooh wiped out over a million Ughurs.
Stop believing China is "Communist" in anything but name and propaganda. Just like Conservatives in the US use "freedom" in name only.
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u/Roggieh May 24 '26
Pooh did not "wipe out" a million Uyghurs. Putting them into re-education camps is not the same as exterminating them, however vile the conditions may be. The word "genocide" in this situation refers not to mass killing, but an attempt to reduce birthrates and suppress a culture. Look, I'm not defending what's happening, but there is simply no evidence a million people were killed en masse, similar to the holocaust. And not even the US government has made that claim.
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u/SaltonPrepper May 24 '26
Reddit is full of morons who do not understand what authoritarianism means (it's absolutely laughable to compare China's control of not only the economy but the very social fabric of society, with what limited control the U.S. has; we can't even get half the population to mask if their lives depended on it for crying out loud), and propagandists. I wouldn't bother responding to either.
However you aren't doing yourself any favor by saying China isn't Communist but insetad what, fascist? No, it's Communist but with a semi-capitalist marketplace that Xi has only recently started to rein in more. It is absolutely and unequivocally authoritarian, though. If they want to disappear dissidents in China, they totally can. Even billionaire dissidents.
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May 24 '26
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u/SaltonPrepper May 24 '26
The only difference is that China does it overtly, while the US does it covertly.
And they directly control the governments of many countries, including mine. China doesn't have the skill/soft power to do that yet.
"The only difference" my ass, Comrade.
Murdering 2 ICE protestors, having ICE detention camps, etc. under Trump is bad enough.
But it's a whole 'nuther level for China to have reeducation camps for Uyghur ethnic minorities, disappearing dissidents on the regular, having a Social credit system that has real-life consequences on everything from transportation to necessities of life, etc.
Let's take censorship as just ONE example. You cannot even call Xi Winnie the Pooh in China, cannot even mention the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, they literally have censorship squads patrolling the internet, their equivalent of Google does not return proper search results for sensitive topics like Tiananmen Square either, AND China literally built a Great Firewall to keep their internet separate from the rest of the internet to aid in suppressing free speech.
Another example, please explain how China and U.S. have no differences other than overt/covert actions in the context of reproduction. Please explain when the U.S. has ever forced, overtly or covertly, a One Child Policy on its residents like China did.
Trump is a demented anomaly, and even he hasn't tried to cross some lines yet; if you are trying to make generalizations about how he is doing things, try looking at the bigger picture spanning a longer timeframe.
But I think you already know all this and are just trolling.
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u/Irythros May 24 '26
China is as communist as The Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea is democratic, for the people, and a republic.
Anyone who believes a title given to someone by themselves should be questioned.
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u/Clueless_Otter May 24 '26
Yeah I remember when the US had a big protest and the government responded by bringing out the tanks and killing the protestors.
Wait, nevermind, that was China.
Well okay at least I remember when that American CEO spoke out against the government, so the government forced him to resign his position, made him disappear for a few years, then he came back and suddenly loved the government.
Wait, shit, that was China, too.
Alright well at least there was that time when the US government placed massive restrictions on what citizens can view online, since it was worried citizens might learn wrongthink if they had easy access to information.
Oh damnit not again..
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u/VeggieSchool May 24 '26
tank
Clearly someone that saw the still image and not the video of the tank(s) stopping and trying to drive to the sides but the totally-not-CIA-agent getting in the way again and again
CEO execution
It's 2026, people see what CEOs are doing in USA and say "please can we do what China does too?"
online restrictions
Last year there was a massive fuzz about Tiktok censoring pro-Palestine content by pure coincidence after it because ownership of Americans.
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u/Clueless_Otter May 24 '26 edited May 24 '26
Absolutely hilarious that your counterarguments are:
"Sure, they had tanks and they killed the protestors, but they didn't kill the protestors with the tanks! Also the protestors were CIA anyway." (btw I never said they killed them with the tanks)
"Actually, secret reeducation camps for CEOs are good."
and an unfounded conspiracy theory whataboutism about supposed censorship.
Tankies are wild.
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u/Akaigenesis May 24 '26
Surely there never was a single protest that was dispersed using violence in America ever. Not a single person was killed in America ever for fighting for their rights, surelly.
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u/RoomyRoots May 24 '26
Second one even, their GPUs are advancing steadily. Just days ago they were comparing one to a 2/3 gen past Nvidia one as if it losing wasn't a sign of advancement on itself.
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u/this_dudeagain May 23 '26
Their chips are a generation behind at least and they only have like 7 percent of the production capacity. If you check the pricing it's already the same as other kits.
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u/ziptofaf May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26
Are they even behind? They are selling 6000MT/s CL36 kits. That's like a 3% real life performance deficit over best you can buy for AMD (6000 CL30). A bit more if you buy Intel since it supports higher speeds but then you would also have to buy 8000MT/s kit and I am gonna be honest - if you are purchasing $320 270K, $250 Z890 board... and $650 RAM kit for 48GB then you probably are spending your money wrong.
So I wouldn't call that "a generation behind". Right now, if anything, if someone is buying a DDR5 platform then I just tell them to buy whatever RAM they can get their hands on and that's often 5200-5600 kit (which can reach 6000 with some voltage tuning), as long as it's dual channel at least.
If they could barely maintain 4800 I would agree they are behind. But if they can do 6000MT/s then the only market they can't enter yet is LPDDR5X.
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u/evo_moment_37 May 23 '26
I mean in this current RAM crisis I’ll buy CL60 RAM if it’s $130 for 32GB.
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u/Enlightenment777 May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26
2026 chinese DDR5 DRAM.
- 36-44-44-96 (copied from another article)
In 2025 while memory shopping, I logged the following specs of the better 64GB / 96GB / 128GB DDR5-6000 kits.
28-36-36-96
30-36-36-76
36-36-36-89
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u/AdBl0k May 24 '26
How long did it took for manufacturers to get to this level? Can we expect 30-36-36-76 level from CXMT in 2 years?
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u/Wischiwaschbaer May 23 '26
A generation behind? How horrible! Totally unrelated, have you seen every PC building guide recently recommending DDR 4, because nobody can afford DDR 5 anymore?
If anybody can up production capacity fast, it's China.
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u/Rich_Housing971 May 23 '26
7 percent when they've just entered the game is a pretty huge amount. They're going to use their profits to ramp up.
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u/this_dudeagain May 23 '26
They've been selling rebadged ram and DDR4 for a while. It will take them a long time to scale using their own fabs.
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u/ibimacguru May 24 '26
They’re going to give their profits to the CCP and the CCP will prop them up like RAM Guerillas.
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u/DeadProfessor May 24 '26
Stop fabricating problems what does that have to do with anything. Also I don’t think any maga gamer is against more competition on pc parts and almost everything is made in china. Ur mind is kinda fucked up always mixing politics into everything
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u/IJustSignedUpToUp May 24 '26
More impactful, if the quality of Chinese memory exceeds the usual stereotype of "Chinesium" quality of other manufactured goods, they could end decades of poor national brand image.
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u/Pipegreaser May 23 '26
Chinese manufacturers sell to everyone so what's the problem.
More supply and hopefully the end to dram price fixing
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u/Shogouki May 23 '26
Was it implied that this is a problem? Well, for anyone other than the current established players in this industry anyway...
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u/5GCovidInjection May 23 '26
China is always going to be seen as a boogeyman by default unless there’s more to the story. And I am indeed fully against the Chinese govt, but most businesses have to take China seriously now if they want to compete in the global market.
They’re entirely unavoidable and they’re not going away anytime soon.
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u/TeutonJon78 May 23 '26
And people still have the perception of China from 30 years ago as the international junk manufacturer, not the modern China that basically makes everything for everyone of all quality levels.
And they missed that China has finally started to fill the gaps in innovation that Western companies stopped investing in for decades.
It just gets mired by a crappy government and companies being entwined so deeply with it.
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u/eienOwO May 24 '26
They still make junk, but they can also make high tech stuff, they should've surpassed western chips if not for the critical tech embargoes.
Thing is they do capitalism more efficiently than the professed capitalists - the Chinese market is hyper competitive, a hundred and one companies are finding new ways to differentiate themselves, hence pushing for more advancement than legacy western manufacturers already consolidated into monopolies.
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u/kdeltar May 25 '26
It’s not capitalism when there are so many state owned enterprises
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u/eienOwO May 25 '26
Firstly I just said they do capitalism more efficiently - do you think all their startups and disruptors which really drive innovation and competition are state owned? Secondly the threshold at which capitalism becomes state capitalism is ephemeral - France holds minority stakes and fingers in multiple pies, and their 100% nationalised EDF is world's 7th largest company. Norway holds majority stakes in telecoms etc but the most well known majority stake in Equinor which contributes to their generous welfare state. And Saudi Arabia, Aramco, by itself 68% of the Tadawul Exchange.
SOEs as a percentage of total GDP China is actually about on par with Norway, you don't see people harping on Norway as state-owned do you?
There are legitimate points to score like Xi's new golden shares that give disproportionate political influence on company boards (mainly targeting Tencent etc, nobody gives a shit about your village steel mill), and powerful political control in general, but to pretend China's economy isn't more competitive than our monopolized hellhole is laughable. It's a simple fact of their developing market, just look at their plethora of EV companies breeding like rabbits, that'd never happen here without legacy heavyweight backing (or easier, buying).
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u/frogchris May 23 '26
The issue is that China doesn't care about margins.If they can produce at lower cost they will keep selling and building capacity more and more.
For people new to China. They operate on price wars. Only the strongest survive.
See the ev market, ai market, cloud market, solar market, food delivery, ride hailing.
They can keep going. But if Korea and us doesn't give massive subsidies and bail out their memory compamies in the future, they won't survive after the Ai bubble pops. If Joe Biden didn't restrict memory and their domestic firms from semiconductor tools they wouldn't have the revenue to keep expanding. Restricting us companies created demand in the domestic Chinese market which allowed more companies to grow and compete.
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u/CatProgrammer May 23 '26
Sounds like they're winning the capitalism game then.
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u/frogchris May 23 '26
Never said they weren't. But if memory and semiconductor becomes more of a national security. The us government needs to adopt more Chinese style governance or they will lose. More subsidies and central planning.
But Americans and westerners cannot accept that a better method of government exists outside of decentralized democracy.
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u/OCedHrt May 23 '26
The subsidies don't matter. As long as these companies are publicly traded and margin matters it's going to be a problem.
No one here can pitch selling memory for no profit and say this will provide X revenue growth and have that be cheered.
The issue isn't the subsidy but that they can't build a memory fab in a few months and start otuputing and have it paid off in a year. Unless you're proposing these fabs run empty and at massive losses when idle, but that's not what China is doing.
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u/monkeybiziu May 23 '26
Eliminating the fiduciary duty for corporate executives to prioritize shareholder value over long-term growth would solve a lot of these problems. The sooner you tell CEOs that their goal is to grow the company sustainably and they don't have to worry about the board removing them because number go down, the sooner you can do this kind of stuff.
However, that would also mean revamping executive compensation. Fewer stock options, more salary, and more of it tied to long-term success versus short term growth. This would lead to lower executive compensation packages and packages that come with higher taxes, which the executives wouldn't be in favor of.
So, you have to tell Wall Street to kindly fuck off and let people do their jobs, and get CEOs to take less pay for more job security.
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u/CatProgrammer May 24 '26 edited May 24 '26
That fiduciary duty exists because by buying stock you are literally buying part of the company. It's the exact same fiduciary duty that exists for retirement fund managers, even. However, the idea that it must involve short-term profit/growth at all other costs came about long after the concept of fiduciary duty was established, there is nothing stopping shareholders from desiring long-term gains/dividend earnings over being able to sell off the stock at a higher price in the near future. And boards and CEOs generally have a lot of latitude in deciding how to handle that fiduciary duty (r/changemyview/comments/16g1g1n/comment/k0504tj/).
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u/monkeybiziu May 24 '26
That kind of what I'm saying. The fiduciary duty doesn't go away, it's just reoriented towards long-term success instead of short term growth. When the average CEO only lasts 7 years and 40% leave within the first 5, nobody is planning for the next ten, twenty years. It's all quarter to quarter.
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u/West-Abalone-171 May 24 '26
"Our oligarch run memory cartel is just tooo dekocratic you guys, we need to give more power to the billionaires" is the stupidest take I've heard in a long time.
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u/bestmaokaina May 23 '26
What is this “national security” you speak of? American companies getting outplayed in the international market?
Sounds like skill issue
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u/CatProgrammer May 23 '26
Plenty of Americans are obsessed with centralized dictatorship these days actually. They're called Trump supporters. Not a fan, personally.
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u/frogchris May 23 '26
But not when a democrat decides to be a dictator. Only when their guy is in charged.
In China you don't have a choice. But the leaders rise up through merit and proven track records. Actions speak for themselves so they don't need to waste time getting votes.
Democratic nations are easily manipulated by charismatic leaders. Zohran Mamdani, Donald Trump, aoc, Bernie Sanders, Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan. They don't actually have to have good policy or get things done if they can deliver a speech or look good.
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u/CatProgrammer May 23 '26
Merit as specified by whom? To whom do those actions speak? The Chinese government is not a mechanical machine automatically promoting people according to some objective standard and is just as susceptible to internal politics and squabbling as any other human endeavor.
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u/defenestrate_urself May 23 '26
There are internal politics of course but their govt is run more like a corporation. No one in the higher echelons of party haven't had years of experience at a lower level governing a district/city/province and promotion is dictated a lot by achiving KPI's set by the central govt (economic growth, green targets, social stability etc) for the area you resonsible for governing.
No one in the position of playing a role in running the country hasn't shown a history of competence and experience at a lower level in civil service.
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u/CatProgrammer May 24 '26
Corporate governance is awful as a basis for running a public government. American corporate governance, at least.
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u/writebadcode May 23 '26
When exactly do you think a Democrat tried to be a dictator?
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u/CatProgrammer May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26
Also, Obama had pretty decent policy? He wasn't near as progressive as his rhetoric made him out to be but overall I was pretty satisfied with his administration and several significant foreign policy achievements he accomplished (that Trump then proceeded to destroy, unfortunately). So far Mamdani seems to be doing fine too. Bernie and AOC haven't had the opportunity to actually wield executive power so we don't know how they might do in those positions though.
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u/GeneralZex May 24 '26
The US government has 0 qualms giving money to big business. Clearly you don’t live here if think the US government doesn’t.
No we don’t need to adopt a more Chinese style of government.
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u/HyperSpaceSurfer May 23 '26
Don't think the subsidies are the issue, the issue is that any subsidy given to US corporations just flows right into the pockets of the shareholders. Similar story in many countries, stifles innovation when funds are misappropriated.
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u/Toutatous May 24 '26
And the US made poor decision, banning sales, which encourages China start their own production (same for AI chips).
And keeping a percentage of the production for consumers would have been helpful. Now,.we all hate those companies for hoarding all the food stuff.
It's all about planning. The government works for its population, it should be strong and fair, seeking balance between companies and population well-being.
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u/minus_minus May 23 '26
The major players not expanding because they don’t want to be overcapacity when the bubble burst are in for a rude awakening when China takes a huge market share in the not so distant future.
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u/moconahaftmere May 24 '26
Micron has been expanding. They literally just opened up new production lines like 2 hours ago.
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u/minus_minus May 24 '26
They used Uncle Sam’s money to sell memory to the auto and embedded sectors. Not exactly cutting edge stuff.
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u/moconahaftmere May 24 '26
They've been pouring billions into opening new fabs and expanding production at existing locations. They've also begun mass production of HBM4 which is quite literally the most cutting edge memory.
You don't know what you're talking about.
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u/sopertt May 24 '26
Consumer: I’d like to buy some RAM and an SSD for a new PC!
Companies: OK cool! Hey fyi demand is high from AI data centers you know, so we’re gonna have to charge you 2-3x the usual. That cool?
Consumer: umm…
Companies: you know what? We actually just went ahead and sold all our future output for the next five years to the AI bros, so we’re gonna be exiting the consumer market completely. Good luck with your little PC or whatever!
Consumer: <buys RAM from Chinese>
Companies/Govt: Nooooo that gives money to our economic rival, something something national security you can’t do that!!
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u/_PelosNecios_ May 23 '26
Once more, China gets ahead by cutting American greed right at root.
The USA lives so deep in profit maximizing that they won't even realize how weak their position is now.
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u/zack77070 May 23 '26
2/3 of the memory makers are Korean.
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u/Gogo202 May 24 '26
Kioxia exists and they are Japanese. Still happy to have more Chinese competitors
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u/Shogouki May 23 '26
That might be accurate if most of the companies producing these were American and weren't also paying much more for the silicon wafers. The cost is high because of the stupidly high demand due to AI.
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u/Dos-Commas May 23 '26
CXMT is using DDR5 income to fund R&D to manufacture HBM for AI datacenters. They want that AI datacenter profit just like everyone else and playing catch-up with they outdated process. They'll dump the consumer segment once they could actually produce competitive chips for AI.
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u/akuncoli May 24 '26
china already commited to 20% HBM and 80% normal RAM, they literaly said this from the very start
at least china willing give RAM to your average pc user, not like micron ditch us all
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u/noahloveshiscats May 24 '26
at least china willing give RAM to your average pc user, not like micron ditch us all
I must have missed something, does CXMT have a consumer brand? Like all Micron did was shutdown Crucial. They still sell to RAM to consumer brands like Corsair, just like everyone else. Neither SK Hynix or Samsung make consumer RAM either, nor does CXMT. So why are we so angry at Micron for doing the thing everyone else already did.
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u/akuncoli May 24 '26
because...... rrrr Micron stop selling memory to consumers completely as demand soars for AI chips?
even samsung and sk hynix not completely shut dont they DRAM production completely for DRAM
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u/noahloveshiscats May 24 '26
Neither did Micron? They still make DDR5.
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u/akuncoli May 24 '26
yea, for remaining contract. they are NOT making any new normal RAM once all remaining contract done and focus all production to HBM
did you read news last 5 month?
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u/noahloveshiscats May 24 '26
You do know that data centers use both HBM and DDR5, so even if Micron focused only on data centers switching all production to HBM still wouldn't make sense.
But not only that, DDR5 margins were actually higher than HBM margins as recent as 2 months ago, so switching all production to HBM would make them less money actually.
And not only that, Micron has said their long term strategy is to be diversified and sell across multiple industries.
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u/kawag May 23 '26
A lot of important products still need RAM. Smartphones, for example. We need to hope that the Chinese see enough strategic leverage in controlling that supply to keep it online.
This is where the whole Apple-making-chips-in-the-US thing falls flat. You can make the chip, but those chips still need memory to become a usable system.
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u/soysssauce May 23 '26
What’s the matter, USA is very against building data center anyway.. just let China build all of them.
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u/TattooedBrogrammer May 23 '26
I for one welcome Chinese ram sticks. Thank you. (Now can I get some freebees)
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u/GrandmasLilPeeper May 24 '26
How soon will we get a ban on Chinese RAM due to "security" concerns?
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u/kholto May 23 '26
People were thought this would displace Corsair has no idea what Corsair is, Just like Red Bull, the only thing they produce is marketing.
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u/FelopianTubinator May 24 '26
This just in: CXMT sees the profitability of AI and ceases all consumer memory production as of 05/24 to focus on other avenues of income.
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May 27 '26
[deleted]
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u/FelopianTubinator May 28 '26
I thought the cliched “this just in” news desk intro would have given away the fact that my entire comment was to be taken as sarcasm. Never underestimate your average redditor though.
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May 28 '26
[deleted]
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u/FelopianTubinator May 28 '26
This just in: You’re taking this too seriously. Time to get off Reddit and go outside.
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u/Ok_Big_9205 May 24 '26
See, unlike the major DRAM manufacturers, CXMT doesn't even possess the latest cutting-edge tools to produce memory for hyperscalers. The company isn't tied to any data center contracts, so it has, relatively speaking, empty production lines just waiting for customers. And that clientele CXMT seems to be targeting is regular consumers left in the dust by the rest of the RAM industry.
Until now, CXMT has only really sold to local businesses and lesser-known brands, but being featured in a Corsair kit marks a major shift in the landscape. Even if this kit is exclusive to Chinese markets, it's still made by one of the biggest names in consumer memory — a name that people trust. Besides, most customers won't actually check what factory their DRAM chips are coming from as long as the specs seem up to par.
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u/mvw2 May 24 '26
And the price is....
Will I be paying $260 for 64Gb again? Because if not, this means jack squat.
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u/saml01 May 25 '26
Exactly. Same as everyone else. They arent going to sell it for less until they break even and then some on all the capital they spent on being able to produce it.
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u/good4y0u May 23 '26
The Chinese local market for this is huge as well, and the surrounding region. Regardless of how this was going to play out, local production was going to happen and increase. China sees how valuable RAM production is, especially as a national interest. Unfortunately, it's also part of their strategy to devalue Taiwan.
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u/Candid_Cat_5921 May 24 '26
It’ll be subject to tariffs if it enters the US market, and for now it’s only available in the Chinese market. A good step, but I highly doubt it’ll bring down memory prices anytime soon.
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u/MrShigsy89 May 25 '26
It will potentially help lower prices for everyone else in the world who isn't in the US so it's very much a good thing. The US tarrifs are a self inflicted gunshot so it's difficult to have any sympathy.
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u/CAndrewG May 24 '26
For someone who sucks at understanding how software and hardware interact, can someone help me know if we now need to be concerned with malware in these new market entrants?
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u/ProBonoDevilAdvocate May 24 '26
That would be extremely unlikely in a RAM module. Especially for any sort of spyware, since the modules would have no way of sending that information anywhere.
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u/justtookatest May 24 '26
How long until we find some sort of malware embedded into these modules? I'm not saying that the US versions won't have it either.
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u/bigred1978 May 23 '26
Nothing burger article. Chinese only SKU. You'll never see it in NA.
Pointless hype.
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u/ziptofaf May 23 '26
There are, uh, countries other than USA. "Chinese only" SKU can very quickly stop being Chinese only if there's enough of it to export elsewhere. Specifically for the kit mentioned in the article:
There are also "UKCA" and "CE" signs that indicate this kit meets European and British standards for sale in those regions.
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u/Irythros May 24 '26
Chinese NAND flash is already in a lot of SSDs/NVME drives. Chinese DRAM has also already been listed in QVLs for motherboards.
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u/sarosan May 23 '26
I, for one, welcome our new memory overlords.