HP, Dell, Acer, and Asus are doing something they’ve never done before: testing Chinese memory chips for integration into their PCs.
The move comes as DRAM prices have skyrocketed by triple-digit percentages throughout 2025, forcing manufacturers to look beyond Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron, the Big Three who’ve dominated the memory market for decades.
According to Nikkei Asia, major PC makers have contacted China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) to enter their validation process for DDR5 modules. HP started qualifying CXMT’s products late last year and plans to monitor the situation through mid-2026.
If the shortage persists and prices keep climbing, the company could start sourcing CXMT chips for products sold outside the United States. Dell is taking a similar approach, while Acer and Asus have asked their Chinese manufacturing partners to help source memory components through local networks.
AI is eating all the memory
The current shortage isn’t random, it’s AI-driven. Major memory manufacturers have shifted production capacity toward High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) for AI accelerators and data center GPUs, creating scarcity in consumer markets. OpenAI’s “Stargate” infrastructure project alone is reportedly consuming up to 40 percent of global DRAM output.
Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron prioritized their highest-margin customers, Nvidia, Google, Amazon, leaving PC and smartphone makers scrambling for supply.
DRAM contract prices increased by 172 percent throughout 2025, with some DDR4 chips jumping 150 percent in a single quarter. Lenovo’s CFO called the cost surge “unprecedented,” and analysts at Morgan Stanley downgraded Dell stock over concerns about rising server memory costs.
By November 2025, contract prices for certain NAND wafers rose over 60 percent month-over-month as legacy manufacturing capacity was retired faster than expected.
CXMT steps up with DDR5-8000
CXMT unveiled its first DDR5 and LPDDR5X memory products in November 2025 at the China International Semiconductor Expo. The DDR5 chips reach speeds up to 8000 MT/s with 16 Gb and 24 Gb capacities, matching mainstream high-end specifications.
The company offers modules in multiple formats: RDIMM and MRDIMM for servers, UDIMM for desktops, SODIMM for laptops, plus CUDIMM and CSODIMM for workstations. Their LPDDR5X chips hit 10,667 MT/s, comparable to Samsung’s latest offerings.
CXMT already supplies memory to Chinese brands like Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and Lenovo, holding roughly 30 percent of China’s smartphone LPDDR market. The company is preparing for an IPO, and securing contracts with HP and Dell would significantly boost its position as a global DRAM supplier.
However, CXMT remains about three years behind the Big Three in manufacturing capabilities, and reports indicate their production volumes are still limited.
The real question is whether CXMT can offer long-term agreements with pricing below what Korean suppliers charge.
For now, there’s no timeline for when CXMT modules might appear in consumer products sold in Western markets, but the validation process has officially begun. With memory prices expected to stay elevated through 2027, PC makers have few alternatives left.
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