Written by Fanny Potkin and Eduardo Baptista
SINGAPORE/BEIJING (Reuters) – Two Chinese chipmakers are in the early stages of producing high-bandwidth memory (HBM) semiconductors used in artificial intelligence chipsets, according to sources and documents.
HBM advances, even if limited to older versions of HBM, could reduce China's dependence on overseas suppliers amid tensions with the United States that have led to US restrictions on exports of advanced chipsets to Chinese companies. This represents significant progress in this endeavor.
CXMT, China's largest DRAM chip maker, partnered with chip packaging and testing company Tongfu Microelectronics to develop samples of the HBM chip, according to three people briefed on the matter. Two of them said the chips were shown to customers.
In another example, Wuhan Xinxin is building a factory capable of producing 3,000 12-inch HBM wafers per month, with construction scheduled to begin in February this year, documents from corporate database Qicchacha show. ing.
CXMT and other Chinese chip companies are also meeting regularly with semiconductor manufacturing equipment companies in South Korea and Japan to buy HBM development tools, two people familiar with the matter said.
The sources were not authorized to discuss the matter and declined to be identified. Hefei-based CXMT or ChangXin Memory Technologies and Tongfu Microelectronics did not respond to requests for comment.
Wuhan Xinxin and its parent company, which has expressed interest in going public with regulators, did not respond to requests for comment. The parent company is also the parent company of YMTC (Yangtze Memory Technologies), a NAND memory specialist company. YMTC said it does not have the capacity to mass produce HBM.
Both CXMT and Wuhan Xinxin are private companies receiving funding from local governments to advance their technology as China pours capital into developing its chip sector.
Wuhan's local government also did not respond to requests for comment.
Separately, Chinese technology giant Huawei, which the US considers a national security threat and is subject to sanctions, plans to partner with other domestic companies to produce HBM2 chips by 2026. The company is aiming to do so, one of the sources and another person familiar with the matter said. problem.
The Information reported in April that the Huawei-led group of companies seeking to manufacture HBM also includes memory chip maker Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuits, which is also subject to U.S. sanctions.
Huawei, whose Ascend AI chips are seeing soaring demand, declined to comment. It is not clear where Huawei sources HBM. Fujian Jinhua News Agency did not respond to a request for comment.
A long journey ahead
HBM is a DRAM standard first created in 2013 that stacks chips vertically to save space and reduce power consumption, making it ideal for processing large amounts of data generated by complex AI applications. It's the best choice, and demand is skyrocketing amid the AI boom.
The HBM market is dominated by South Korean companies SK Hynix and Samsung, which analysts say were until recently the only HBM suppliers to AI chip giant Nvidia, and to a lesser extent American company Micron Technology. All three companies produce the latest standard, the HBM3 chip, and are working to bring the fifth generation of his HBM, or HMB3E, to customers this year.
China's efforts are now focused on HBM2, two people familiar with the matter and another person with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Although the United States has no restrictions on exporting HBM chips themselves, the HBM3 chips are manufactured using American technology, and many Chinese companies, including Huawei, are barred from access as part of the restrictions.
Nori Chiou, an investment director at White Oak Capital and a former analyst covering the IT sector, estimates that Chinese chipmakers are 10 years behind global rivals in HBM.
“China currently lacks the competitiveness to match South Korea even in traditional memory markets, so it faces a considerable road ahead,” he said.
“Nonetheless,[CXMT’s]cooperation with Tongfu represents a significant opportunity for China to improve its capabilities in both memory and advanced packaging technologies in the HBM market.”
Patents filed by CXMT, Tongfu and Huawei show that HBM's domestic development plans date back at least three years, when China's chip industry was becoming subject to U.S. export controls.
According to Anaqua's AcclaimIP database, CXMT has filed approximately 130 patents in the United States, China, and Taiwan regarding various technical issues related to the manufacturing and functionality of HBM chips. Of these, 14 were published in 2022, 46 in 2023, and 69 in 2024.
One Chinese patent published last month shows the company is considering advanced packaging techniques such as hybrid bonding to create stronger HBM products. Separate filings indicate that CXMT is also investing in developing the technology needed to create HBM3.
(Reporting by Fanny Potkin in Singapore and Eduardo Baptista in Beijing; additional reporting by Heekyung Yang and Joyce Lee in Seoul; Editing by Brenda Goh and Edwina Gibbs)