Storage Technology from China China Develops Its Own HBM Chips for AI

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China has apparently become more independent of the USA in memory chips. The leading Chinese chip manufacturer CXMT has started mass production of HBM2 chips, two years earlier than generally assumed, various trade media report. If the reports are confirmed, China would have reached an important milestone in neutralizing the negative impact of American chip boycotts on its economy. HBM is considered a key technology for artificial intelligence, as memory chips with high bandwidth are needed for its large amounts of data.

As reported by Tom's Hardware, citing unnamed insiders, ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), the leading Chinese DRAM manufacturer, has recently started mass production of second generation HBM semiconductors, also known as HBM2 chips. "If confirmed, this would come about two years sooner than the previously expected timeline, although the yield for HBM2 is still uncertain," comments the trade medium Trendforce on the reports.

As DigiTimes Asia writes, CXMT is particularly heavily investing in expanding a production line for "High Bandwidth Memory" (HBM) in Hefei, the capital of the Chinese province Anhui and the location of its headquarters. An initial monthly production capacity of 50,000 units is planned. CXMT also manufactures such chips in Beijing.

Domestic HBM is the goal

Several Chinese companies have been systematically working for about three years to make rapid progress in the domestic production of HBM chips. At that time, Washington had begun chip and equipment boycotts to hinder the development of the Chinese industry. For three years, the three Chinese companies CXMT, Tongfu and Huawei have been registering significantly more patents relevant to HBM production, the news agency Reuters reported in June.

Databases recording patent applications show a clear trend. In the past three years since the start of the US chip boycotts against China, the number of HBM patents from Chinese developers has accelerated significantly. For example, the "AcclaimIP" database from Anaqua shows that of the 130 patents with HBM relevance that the Chinese manufacturer CXMT has registered in the USA, China and Taiwan, 14 were filed in 2022, 46 in 2023 and so far 69 in 2024.

So far, China has been completely reliant on imports for memory chips with this bandwidth. The South Korean manufacturers SK hynix and Samsung, as well as to some extent the US manufacturer Micron, are the global market leaders for HBM chips. From the perspective of the Chinese government, the ability to mass-produce these memory chips domestically is particularly important because they are also needed for the production of the "Ascend 910" series of chips from Chinese technology leader Huawei, which are suitable for advanced AI applications.

Progress despite an apparent deficit

Although China has apparently overcome a major hurdle on the way to independence from American and South Korean suppliers with the HBM2 mass production, there is still a technological lag compared to the West and its allies. Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix are already mass-producing HBM3 and HBM3E and are preparing for the mass production of HBM4 with 2048-bit technology. However, the processes are comparable and the most advanced lithography equipment—the delivery of which to China is also prevented by the USA—is not necessary for this.

It is therefore probably only a matter of time until China will also master these new generations of HBM itself. In packing and testing, which is also of great importance for memory chips, CXMT has been working with Tongfu Microelectronics from Nantong in the Jiangsu province for some time.

A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Lin Jian, last commented on the US's attempts to slow China's growth using artificial intelligence in June. The boycotts from Washington will not be able to stop China's technological progress in terms of AI, said the official from Beijing, but will only motivate Chinese companies to strive for "excellence from their own strengths." (sb)

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