Chipmaker CXMT sues Pentagon over ‘Chinese military company’ designation

ChangXin Memory Technologies, China's leading producer of dynamic random-access memory chips, filed a lawsuit against the Pentagon on Friday. The company claims it has been unjustly labeled as a Chinese military company by the US defense department. CXMT asserts it designs, manufactures, and sells its DRAM chips for civilian and commercial use, not for military applications.

The US Department of Defense declined to comment on the pending lawsuit. The Pentagon's decision to label CXMT as a "Chinese military company" stems from a Biden administration policy. CXMT's lawsuit aims to challenge the designation and request its removal from the Pentagon list, which could lead to government contracting restrictions and reputational damage.

The company has suffered commercial losses since its designation in January 2025. CXMT is the top DRAM chipmaker in China, and its revenue surged by 874% in the first half of the year. The company seeks to enter the US market in the long term. CXMT filed its lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, naming the Department of Defense, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy Michael Cadenazzi as defendants.

The company argues that the Pentagon's decision was arbitrary, lacked evidence, and violated its due process rights. CXMT had provided the Pentagon with information for over a year to challenge the designation but was surprised when the Pentagon withdrew its notice stating it would be removed from the list.