[DigitalToday reporter Jinju Hong (홍진주)] The selling price of DDR5 memory modules from Chinese memory chipmaker CXMT has been confirmed in detail for the first time. The market has been watching whether CXMT could become a game-changer that lowers memory prices, but at least for server products it does not appear cheaper than Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.

On July 27 (local time), online media outlet Gigazine reported that DDR5 memory modules using CXMT memory chips are already being sold on Chinese online shopping sites.

The product confirmed this time is a 64GB DDR5-5600 ECC memory for servers and workstations. A Chinese PC hardware information account, '@harukaze5719', posted a sales page from a major Chinese online shopping mall, and the product price was shown as 18,999 yuan.

Comparable products from Samsung Electronics and SK hynix were sold at 18,595.91 yuan each for the same capacity and specifications. Based on price alone, the CXMT product was slightly higher than Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. It was a somewhat different outcome from expectations that a Chinese company would pursue a low-price strategy to expand market share.

Industry attention has focused on whether CXMT can become a new supplier that lowers memory prices. The global memory market is currently effectively led by three companies, including Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Micron. With concerns growing about supply shortages and rising prices after Micron scaled back production of consumer memory chips, CXMT's market entry has drawn attention.

Efforts to secure compatibility are also progressing. Founded in 2016, CXMT has recently expanded product validation through multiple PC makers and motherboard companies. In July, MSI released a beta BIOS that supports CXMT memory, and cases were reported in which CXMT DDR5 memory operated normally on ASUS motherboards. MSI also introduced that the BIOS enables operation up to DDR5-8200. Still, it is difficult to generalise to the consumer memory market based on this price alone.

The product disclosed this time is ECC memory for servers and workstations, and prices for DDR5 memory for PCs used by general consumers have not yet been disclosed. The possibility remains that it could roll out a separate pricing strategy for consumer products.

Even so, there is an assessment that CXMT's market entry is meaningful from a supply perspective. Even if price competitiveness is not as large as expected, an increase in the volume of memory supplied to the market could contribute in part to stabilising supply and demand.

The industry sees key points to watch as whether CXMT can expand full-scale sales in the DDR5 market for general PCs beyond the server market, and what impact an increase in supply could have on global memory prices and supply and demand.