China's CXMT opens doors to mass production of LPDDR6 memory

ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) has reached a major milestone in the semiconductor industry by officially starting large-scale mass production of its next-generation LPDDR6 RAM. This places CXMT among the first manufacturers in the industry to achieve this feat, joining South Korean rivals working on similar timelines.

The first known customer to use these homegrown chips from CXMT is Xiaomi. The homegrown LPDDR6 module will be built into Xiaomi’s upcoming 18 Fold smartphone. With the Xiaomi 18 Fold scheduled for release in September, CXMT’s memory shipments should be completed before the end of the month, confirming that shipments to customers are already underway. The company recently conducted trial production of LPDDR6, and the rapid transition to mass production indicates a very high production yield.

Technical specifications reveal that CXMT's LPDDR6 memory operates at speeds of up to 12.8 Gbps, while the base speed of the LPDDR6 standard is set at 10.7 Gbps. The new standard continues where LPDDR5X left off, which reached up to 10.7 Gbps when overclocked. The first generation from CXMT's factories is already aiming for higher performance. In addition, the company manufactures these chips with a capacity of 16 Gb (equivalent to 2 GB), with the memory integrated circuit packaged in a "package-on-package" (POP) structure with approximately 1295 pins in the form of a ball matrix.

Meanwhile, South Korean giant SK Hynix is also nearing mass production. SK Hynix has previously announced that its LPDDR6 memory modules will offer 16Gb capacity and will be manufactured on the sixth generation of 10nm process (known as 1c). These SK Hynix modules are expected to reach speeds of up to 14.4Gbps. While SK Hynix's products may run slightly faster, all of the speeds listed remain within the official JEDEC specifications for LPDDR6. As technology and manufacturing capabilities continue to develop, we can expect even faster chips in the future.