China's Chip Industry 'Explodes' Amidst Global Supply Crisis
The global memory chip shortage is providing a significant boost to China’s chip industry. Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT), a prominent memory chip manufacturer in Xi Jinping’s administration, has released ambitious revenue predictions for the first half of 2026.
On Sunday (17/5) local time, CXMT estimated that its revenue for the first half of 2026 could reach between 110 and 120 billion yuan (approximately Rp285-311 trillion). This projection is driven by a surge in memory chip prices amidst an intensifying global crisis.
Global memory chip prices have risen drastically as the ‘AI explosion’ has caused demand for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) to skyrocket. This crisis has triggered price hikes for consumer electronic devices and led to ballooning investments in the construction of AI infrastructure.
While some entities are reaping significant rewards—notably memory chip producers and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, which saw its market capitalisation exceed US$1 trillion in May 2026—the landscape is shifting rapidly.
CXMT stated that global DRAM demand has surpassed existing supply as computing requirements continue to grow. Consequently, global chip manufacturers are readjusting their production lines. This has pushed DRAM prices to higher levels since the second half of 2025. CXMT noted that its revenue is rising sharply alongside increased production, sales, and an improved product mix.
The potential Initial Public Offering (IPO) of CXMT is being closely monitored by foreign investors and industry observers as a benchmark for China’s progress in DRAM technology, which is increasingly vital in the AI era for enabling faster data transmission between processors and memory.
The Hefei-based company expects net profit attributable to shareholders to reach up to 57 billion yuan in the first half of the year. In the first quarter, CXMT’s revenue surged by more than 700% compared to the previous year, reaching 50.8 billion yuan. The company recorded a net profit of 25 billion yuan, a significant turnaround from the net loss of 1.6 billion yuan recorded during the same period the previous year.