CXMT signs $2.94 billion memory chip supply deal with Tencent
CXMT locked in a reported 20 billion yuan Tencent memory deal as its Shanghai IPO cleared review. The contract signals Beijing's push to build a domestic chip supply chain.
CXMT has secured a long-term Tencent supply agreement worth more than 20 billion yuan, or $2.94 billion, locking in several years of server DRAM demand as it prepares for a major stock market debut. Two people familiar with the matter said the contract runs for up to three years, while a third said it could stretch to five, underscoring how tightly China’s biggest internet companies are now tying their infrastructure plans to domestic memory supply.
The deal gives ChangXin Memory Technologies a blue-chip customer at a moment when Beijing is pressing harder to build a homegrown semiconductor stack that can withstand U.S.-China technology restrictions. CXMT’s IPO application for Shanghai’s STAR Market has already passed review by the Shanghai Stock Exchange listing committee, and the company plans to raise 29.5 billion yuan, which would make it the second-largest IPO in STAR Market history after Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp and the biggest A-share listing so far this year. China’s securities regulator approved the registration on June 12.
The timing also reflects a memory market under strain from AI demand. DRAM is central to the servers that power cloud computing, databases and AI workloads, and Reuters said the business has been squeezed by a prolonged global shortage that has pushed memory chip costs higher. Counterpoint Research said CXMT held 8% of the global DRAM market in the first quarter of 2026, up from 3% in the same period of 2025, while Samsung led with 38% and SK hynix had 29%. Reuters also said DRAM contract prices jumped about 95% quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter, with UBS expecting the upcycle to last until at least late 2027.
For China’s industrial planners, the Tencent contract is more than a private procurement win. It shows that a domestic supplier founded in 2016 with government backing can already land long-duration volume from one of the country’s most important internet groups, and it gives CXMT a clearer runway to scale before listing. Reuters said the company counts Tencent, Alibaba Cloud, ByteDance, Lenovo and Xiaomi among its major customers, a sign that domestic demand is being organized around Chinese chipmakers even as Samsung, SK hynix and other foreign suppliers still dominate the global market.
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