Chip manufacturer CXMT asks Pentagon to remove it from list of Chinese military-linked companies

[Alfonso Maruccia]

TL;DR: Thanks to growing issues within the memory supply chain, second-tier companies such as CXMT are quickly becoming major players in the industry. After being banned in the US, the company is now suing Washington in an attempt to regain access to US customers.

The Pentagon recently confirmed CXMT's designation as a company directly linked to Beijing's Communist Party military operations, and the chipmaker is now suing the DoD to have this "baseless" classification removed. The semiconductor manufacturer claims its memory products are designed for civilian applications, meaning there should be no need to classify the company as a national security threat, as the DoD has done for years.

Based in Hefei, Anhui, ChangXin Memory Technologies is an integrated device manufacturer capable of designing, manufacturing, and selling its own semiconductor products. The Chinese IDM has seen its DRAM business explode, while Korean sources claim that the company exploited leaked Samsung IP to bootstrap its memory manufacturing operation and save years of R&D effort.

CXMT was first designated as a Chinese military company in 2025, under the Biden administration. In June, the new DoD leadership maintained the same classification following the latest watchlist update. CXMT is now suing the Pentagon to be removed from any "military" classification, arguing that its memory products are designed and sold for civilian and commercial applications in accordance with JEDEC memory standards.

The company told Reuters that, since its initial designation in January 2025, it has suffered substantial reputational and commercial harm. None of the Pentagon's determinations are "supported by the factual record, by applicable law, or by reasoned decision-making," CXMT stated.

Earlier this year, the DoD confirmed that CXMT would be removed from the military designation list. However, US authorities withdrew the decision shortly after publishing the notice. The Chinese corporation allegedly worked with the Pentagon for more than a year, providing all the information required to change its watchlist status.

Thanks to the industry's overreliance on Big Tech's AI data center plans, CXMT saw its revenue explode by 874% during the first half of the year. A few manufacturers are currently using CXMT memory chips in their own DRAM modules, as traditional brands are simply costing too much. Now, the Chinese chipmaker is also hoping to enter the US market by selling its memory products directly to consumers.

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Chip manufacturer CXMT asks Pentagon to remove it from list of Chinese military-linked companies

 

[Kashim]

Memory chips are now a "national security threat" apparently. Who knows what the Chinese boogeymen are hiding in these chips. Welcome to the new fascist America where anything the Orange administration doesn't like or it interferes with corporate profits then it must be classified as a national security threat. Enjoy your sky high memory prices America while you're a laughing stock for the rest of the world.

 

[NumberNine]

Anything to keep the money moving in the right direction. Look at all that freedom!

 

[psycros]

Every major Chinese tech company has a CCP military handler who oversees the company's contributions to espionage. There are NO exceptions, as reported by many whistleblowers.

 

[Puiu]

"The US government is not basing their decisions on factual records" - true, it's all about who pays more. they don't actually care about problems with the hardware.

 

[Kashim]

Every major Chinese tech company has a CCP military handler who oversees the company's contributions to espionage. There are NO exceptions, as reported by many whistleblowers.

Right, right, so using your logic then ALL tech products coming from China are a security threat and should be banned, correct? Funny how that works. And as far as the US goes, they're basically virgins when it comes to any type of spying or espionage... oh wait.

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

Right, right, so using your logic then ALL tech products coming from China are a security threat and should be banned, correct? Funny how that works. And as far as the US goes, they're basically virgins when it comes to any type of spying or espionage... oh wait.

At the very least, yes, all tech products from China should considered a possible threat, and the US military should avoid using them whenever possible. Just like the Chinese government often consider US tech products to be at threat, and has its own efforts to remove them from from its sensitive operations.

And yes, the US government engages in all sorts of tech spying and espionage; you are basically saying that because the US government spies on other governments, it should just roll over and allow other governments to spy on it without a challenge? How does that make any sort of sense?

 

[scoffer]

Now, the Chinese chipmaker is also hoping to enter the US market by selling its memory products directly to consumers.

To consumers? BS. They will just join the AI crowd. CXMT is not banned in the Philippines - and I've never seen a single stick of their DRAM here. Notwithstanding the possibility of it being part of some other manufacturer's product. (G Skill etc. ).

 

[pnntmp]

This 'list of Chinese military-linked companies' is ridiculous.
Every company in China is de facto owned by the CCP. The nominal owners may run the day to day business until someone decides otherwise, and of course any company at any time may be seized for military (or any other) purposes.
The consideration here has to be whether a particular product, if deliberately rigged, may pose a risk.

 

[whateversa]

Memory chips are now a "national security threat" apparently. Who knows what the Chinese boogeymen are hiding in these chips. Welcome to the new fascist America where anything the Orange administration doesn't like or it interferes with corporate profits then it must be classified as a national security threat. Enjoy your sky high memory prices America while you're a laughing stock for the rest of the world.

CXMT's foundations is stolen Samsung technology... Military classification or not, it's a criminal organization.

 

[Burty117]

CXMT's foundations is stolen Samsung technology... Military classification or not, it's a criminal organization.

Samsung started the same way, aggressively paid Japanese engineers in the 80's to fly over and show them how to build DRAM packages at the weekends, once they were up-and-running, then got sued by everyone for patent infringement in the 90's.

As far as I can tell, IBM invented it (60's), Intel produced the first DRAM chip (70's), and AMD, Texas Instruments, Mostek and a bunch of Japanese companies (Hitachi, Toshiba & NEC) all originally started DRAM production (70's).

If you're going to class every business that's "stolen" (copied) something as a criminal organisation, the tech industry is about to get much smaller.

 

[acrossthestars]

...arguing that its memory products are designed and sold for civilian and commercial applications in accordance with JEDEC memory standards.

As if any military on Earth would pass up the opportunity to repurpose civilian systems for combat scenarios. I understand what CXMT is saying, but it's what they don't say that is more important―namely that there is a clause in their contracts explicitly forbidding military applications.

Government money is ostensibly a "sure thing". What company scoffs at guaranteed revenue?

 

[OortCloud]

Given there are only 4 companies capable of producing DDR-5 they are obviously all going to be selling that product to military organisations all around the world, it's a no-brainer. This is just another attempt by the US to Tariff and disrupt trade whenever they want to try and protect the shareholders of US companies (at the expense of the public).

 

[toooooot]

CXMT's foundations is stolen Samsung technology... Military classification or not, it's a criminal organization.

I read stories about caught Koreans, Japanese engineers who worked at big companies such as Samsung almost daily. China showers them in money. Hard to reject such opportunity.