Key points
- CXMT's nine-month results come in near its forecast
- More of CXMT's third-quarter profit was attributable to minority owners
- CXMT's planned buyback can't start until next year
CXMT (창신메모리, 688825), China's biggest DRAM maker, reported third-quarter revenue of 118.71 billion yuan ($17.9B), up 613% from a year earlier. Net profit attributable to its shareholders was 54.43 billion yuan ($8.2B), compared with a loss a year ago.
Results for the first nine months came in within the forecast CXMT gave on October 17. Revenue of 269.02 billion yuan ($40.5B) was near the top of its 265 billion to 270 billion yuan ($39.9B to $40.6B) range. Nine-month profit attributable to shareholders, at 132.04 billion yuan ($19.9B), was also within the company's range.
The report came out after the Shanghai market closed on October 30. CXMT shares had fallen 2.50% that day to 41.80 yuan ($6.29), leaving them 32% below their August 17 closing high.
Revenue growth slowed from the second quarter
Third-quarter revenue rose 19.3% from the previous quarter. That's still fast, but less than the 95.9% increase from the first quarter to the second, Seoul Economic Daily (서울경제) reported.
The paper also cited a Morningstar analyst who expects CXMT's results to stall for the next few quarters as customers push back.
Gross margin rose 1.94 percentage points from the second quarter to 89.53%. That's the share of revenue left after the direct cost of making the chips.
CXMT said global DRAM supply is tight as demand for computing power grows and major manufacturers shift how they use their factories. The company sold more chips at higher prices and said its cost per chip fell as production expanded.
CXMT remains much smaller than SK Hynix, which reported revenue of 104.6 trillion won ($78.8B) for the same quarter, more than four times CXMT's.
More of the profit was attributable to other owners
CXMT's total net profit was 88.98 billion yuan ($13.4B), up 19.38% from the second quarter. That's about the same pace as revenue. Profit that belongs to CXMT's own shareholders grew only 3.01%.
The reason is how CXMT is built. The company doesn't own all of its subsidiaries outright, and some of them have other shareholders. Part of those companies' profit belongs to those owners. In accounting, that part is called the minority interest.
In the third quarter, 34.55 billion yuan ($5.2B) of profit was attributable to minority owners, by our calculations. That's 39% of CXMT's total net profit, up from 29% in the second quarter. The report didn't explain why the share went up.
CXMT now holds $42.9 billion in cash
CXMT ended September with 285.16 billion yuan ($42.9B) in cash, compared with 51.99 billion yuan ($7.8B) at the end of 2025. The company raised 57.92 billion yuan ($8.7B) in its July IPO on Shanghai's STAR Market, and its business brought in 254.75 billion yuan ($38.4B) in operating cash flow in the first nine months.
Research and development spending was 11.07 billion yuan ($1.67B) for the nine months, up 73%. CXMT also said engineering samples of DRAM built on its sixth-generation technology have passed validation. In September, CXMT said its fifth-generation DRAM was in mass production.
The buyback can't start until late January
CXMT's board approved a plan on October 30 to buy back 1 billion to 2 billion yuan ($151M to $301M) of its own shares. Chairman Zhu Yiming first proposed it on October 16, iNews24 (아이뉴스24) reported. Shareholders still have to vote on the plan.
Under the plan, buying can only begin once the stock has been listed for six months. CXMT listed on July 27, so by our calculations the earliest start is late January 2027. The plan caps the price at 72.69 yuan ($10.94) a share, and at that price the buyback would cover only 0.02% to 0.04% of CXMT's shares. At least half of the shares bought will be canceled, and up to half will go to employee stock plans.
Meanwhile, CXMT will take questions from investors in an online earnings meeting on November 17, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Beijing time.
Dollar figures use 6.6423 yuan per dollar, the Yahoo Finance rate on October 30, 2026.
