Two of the biggest names in the Chinese memory/storage industry, YMTC and CXMT, are reportedly teaming up to accelerate the domestic high-bandwidth memory development. YMTC, best known for making NAND flash storage, is apparently ready to jump into DRAM production and could start buying equipment by late 2025. What makes this interesting is YMTC's secret weapon: their Xtacking technology, which TechInsights calls one of the best hybrid bonding techniques out there. This matters because HBM requires stacking at least 16 memory chips with incredible precision, something YMTC has been doing for years with their NAND products. Meanwhile, CXMT has been ramping up fast, pushing out 70% more DRAM wafers than last year and aiming to get HBM3 certified soon, with HBM3E coming within two years.

CXMT already produces HBM2 and has the DRAM manufacturing infrastructure, while YMTC's bonding expertise could help solve the technical headaches that come with stacking memory chips higher and higher without them overheating. Additionally, companies like Wuhan Xinxin and Tongfu Microelectronics are developing the packaging and assembly capabilities necessary to transform these chips into finished products. CXMT expects to produce 2.73 million wafers in 2025, up from 1.62 million this year, and they could soon match the volume of Micron's shipments. However, all we need to watch now is the feasibility of this HBM development, as Chinese companies require cutting-edge DRAM for their accelerators, like Huawei's Ascend. If global demand persists, we may even see some Western customers use HBM originated in China.