South Korean manufacturers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix plan to expand their production capacity by approximately 600,000 wafers per month by 2028. This expansion is expected to further increase South Korea's lead in the global memory chip market.
China's largest memory producer, CXMT, aims to double its nominal capacity from 300,000 to 600,000 wafers per month. However, the Bank of Korea reports that actual output remains significantly lower due to a low yield of functional chips.
Currently, CXMT accounts for about 8% of global supply despite holding 15% of nominal production capacity. The company is also constructing the Shanghai Fab 1 facility as part of a broader national effort to develop a self-sufficient semiconductor supply chain.
To fund these expansion efforts, CXMT raised nearly $10 billion through an IPO in July, marking one of the largest such offerings in China. Meanwhile, Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) plans to raise an additional $4.6 billion through an IPO by the end of the year.
Technological progress in China remains constrained by US export restrictions, which limit access to advanced manufacturing equipment. Consequently, CXMT primarily focuses on the domestic market, while South Korea is expected to maintain its lead in high-end memory production.