Desperate times call for desperate measures because HP is officially scraping the bottom of the barrel to secure memory chips from a Chinese supplier. Reports indicate the PC manufacturer plans to source DRAM from ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) since every other major vendor completely abandoned the consumer market to chase AI profits.
Bank of America analyst Tae Kim spilled the beans regarding this pivot. High-bandwidth memory production for data centers currently consumes all available manufacturing capacity at Micron and Samsung. That shift left traditional DDR5 buyers high and dry, forcing OEMs to look elsewhere for inventory.
HP apparently intends to limit these Chinese modules to machines sold within Asia and Europe. Segregating specific SKUs helps the corporation skirt US regulations like the NDAA Section 5949, which strictly forbids the Department of Defense from touching hardware linked to CXMT. Commercial devices remain technically legal for now, but that loophole could close rapidly if politicians get annoyed.
CXMT anticipates churning out 300,000 wafers monthly by 2026 since they barely produce HBM variants yet. The firm also eyes a massive IPO in Shanghai, targeting over four billion dollars to fund further expansion. Whether American regulators allow this supply chain workaround to continue remains the real gamble.
Bank of America analyst Tae Kim spilled the beans regarding this pivot. High-bandwidth memory production for data centers currently consumes all available manufacturing capacity at Micron and Samsung. That shift left traditional DDR5 buyers high and dry, forcing OEMs to look elsewhere for inventory.
HP apparently intends to limit these Chinese modules to machines sold within Asia and Europe. Segregating specific SKUs helps the corporation skirt US regulations like the NDAA Section 5949, which strictly forbids the Department of Defense from touching hardware linked to CXMT. Commercial devices remain technically legal for now, but that loophole could close rapidly if politicians get annoyed.
CXMT anticipates churning out 300,000 wafers monthly by 2026 since they barely produce HBM variants yet. The firm also eyes a massive IPO in Shanghai, targeting over four billion dollars to fund further expansion. Whether American regulators allow this supply chain workaround to continue remains the real gamble.
