Key points
- What CXMT announced over the weekend
- Why a smaller memory cell matters
- Which other stocks fell Monday
Micron (MU) shares fell Monday following a weekend announcement from Chinese rival CXMT, which plans to launch server memory using a smaller memory-cell design by year-end. Micron was down 3.6% at $992.07 as of 1:58 p.m. ET, from Friday's close of $1,029.
CXMT President Cao Kanyu said at the fourth Integrated Chips and Chiplets Conference in Shanghai that the company expects to launch a new DDR5 RDIMM product around the end of the year using its 4F² memory design, Chinese tech site IT Home reported on October 10. DDR5 RDIMM is the standard memory module used in servers. The talk didn't give the product's specifications or an exact release date.
CXMT is shrinking the memory cell
A DRAM chip stores data in tiny cells, each usually made of one transistor and one capacitor. Most DRAM made today uses a 6F² cell, IT Home noted, where F is the smallest feature size on the chip. A 4F² cell has a nominal footprint one-third smaller than a 6F² cell at the same value of F. That could allow more memory cells in a given area, though it doesn't establish the density or cost of the finished chip.
Moving from 6F² to 4F² needs new devices and new manufacturing steps, since the old process can't simply be reused.
Cao said CXMT has worked on 4F² since the company was founded and has more than 300 published patent families on it. CXMT published papers on the design in 2021, 2023, and 2025. IT Home noted that starting with server memory means CXMT will face some of the highest technical and engineering barriers in the memory business.
Other memory and storage stocks also fell
The decline wasn't specific to Micron. As of 1:58 p.m. ET, the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) was down 2.6%, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) was down 0.1%. SanDisk (SNDK), which makes flash memory, was down 6.4% at $1,480.39, and hard-drive maker Western Digital (WDC) was down 2.6% at $386.88. In Seoul, SK Hynix fell 4.5%, and Samsung Electronics fell more than 4%. The Kospi dropped 3.65% to 6,384.24 in its first session after a holiday.
Micron had gained about 261% this year through Friday's close, by our arithmetic. CXMT's own shares rose 466% on their first day of trading in Shanghai in July.
CXMT hasn't said how many of the new modules it will ship or what yields it's getting on the 4F² design.
