CXMT’s DRAM Market Share Faces Pressure as Samsung Expands Production and HBM Demand Surges
Chinese memory chipmaker CXMT is facing fresh pressure in the global DRAM market as Samsung increases production and the industry shifts more attention toward high bandwidth memory for artificial intelligence systems.
According to the latest data from Counterpoint Research, CXMT held 9% of the global DRAM market in the third quarter of 2026. That marks a strong improvement from the same period a year earlier, when its share was roughly four percentage points lower. However, it also represents a slight decline from the second quarter, when CXMT reached 10%.
The sequential drop highlights how quickly competition is intensifying in the memory chip industry, especially as major players benefit from rising demand for AI-related memory products.
Samsung remained the leading DRAM supplier in the third quarter with 38% market share. That was a five percentage point increase compared with the previous quarter, showing the company’s ability to scale production at a time when demand for advanced memory is accelerating. SK hynix ranked second with 29% market share, though its share declined by four percentage points from the second quarter.
The market shift comes as high bandwidth memory, including next-generation HBM4, becomes increasingly important for AI servers, accelerators, and data center infrastructure. As AI companies continue building larger computing clusters, memory suppliers with strong HBM capabilities are gaining a major advantage.
CXMT had previously been one of the fastest-growing DRAM manufacturers by revenue. Counterpoint Research reported that the company’s revenue jumped 716% in the second quarter of 2026, driven largely by strong domestic demand from Chinese technology companies. At that time, CXMT held around 7% of the DRAM market by revenue, while Samsung led with 39%.
The rapid rise of CXMT has been supported by China’s push to strengthen its domestic semiconductor supply chain. Local demand has played a key role in helping the company expand, especially as Chinese firms seek more homegrown alternatives for memory chips.
However, Counterpoint has noted that CXMT will need to grow its production capacity and increase its presence in both domestic and international markets if it wants to maintain long-term momentum. Competing against Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron remains a major challenge, especially as the market shifts toward premium memory products with higher margins.
One of the most important factors behind the latest DRAM market changes is pricing. Counterpoint’s data suggests that DRAM revenue rose nearly fivefold year over year, while bit shipments increased by only about 4%. This means revenue growth was driven mainly by higher average selling prices rather than a massive increase in shipment volume.
DRAM average selling prices reached about $1.9 per gigabit, reflecting stronger demand for higher-value memory products. As AI workloads grow more complex, the need for faster and more efficient memory is pushing buyers toward advanced solutions, which benefits suppliers with strong portfolios in HBM and other premium DRAM categories.
At the same time, conventional DRAM is also seeing renewed demand. The rise of agentic AI and changing data center architectures are reshaping the balance between CPUs and GPUs. As AI infrastructure evolves, systems are beginning to require more balanced memory and compute configurations, creating additional demand for traditional DRAM alongside HBM.
The GPU-to-CPU ratio in AI systems is reportedly narrowing and currently stands at around 2:1. This follows earlier industry expectations that the ratio had already moved from 8:1 to 4:1. A lower ratio suggests that CPUs are playing a larger role in AI workloads than before, which could further support demand for broader memory deployment across servers.
For CXMT, the opportunity remains significant, but the competitive environment is becoming tougher. The company has already shown impressive growth, supported by China’s domestic market and rising demand for DRAM. Still, Samsung’s production strength and the growing importance of HBM may limit CXMT’s ability to expand market share quickly.
The third-quarter numbers show a memory market being reshaped by AI demand, pricing power, and production scale. Samsung is strengthening its lead, SK hynix remains a major force despite a quarterly decline, and CXMT continues to grow year over year even as it faces pressure from larger global rivals.
As the AI boom continues, the DRAM market is likely to remain highly competitive. Companies that can deliver advanced memory products, expand capacity efficiently, and secure reliable demand from data center and AI customers will be best positioned to benefit from the next phase of growth.
