CXMT, China's largest chipmaker by market value, is considering building a second memory-chip plant in Beijing and is in financing talks with a tech-manufacturing hub backed by the local government, sources told Reuters.
The company — formally ChangXin Memory Technologies — is seeking close to $8.9 billion in funding to develop the plant, which would produce cutting-edge DRAM memory chips, a project expected to cost more than $10 billion in total. The talks are at an early stage and details remain fluid, the sources said.
The planned expansion follows a historic IPO for CXMT, whose shares soared as much as 472% in their debut, cementing its status as the linchpin of Beijing's drive for memory-chip self-sufficiency. Washington's export controls have cut Chinese firms off from advanced semiconductor tools, and CXMT is widely seen as China's best hope of closing the gap with global leaders Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron.
A second Beijing fab would roughly double CXMT's domestic DRAM ambitions at a time when memory prices have been volatile and AI demand has reshaped the market. Analysts note that scale, not just technology, is the deciding factor in memory — an industry where capital intensity rewards whoever can build the most fabs.
The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and local officials have not confirmed the plans.
