China’s CXMT gets pledge of support as provincial party chief vows chip-industry expansion

Anhui province's newly appointed Communist Party secretary, Li Lecheng, toured China's leading memory chip manufacturer ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) on Wednesday. Li stressed the importance of expanding integrated circuits (ICs) into a key pillar industry. During the visit to CXMT's headquarters in Hefei, Li urged the company to refine its product lineup and aggressively penetrate both domestic and overseas markets. CXMT chairman Zhu Yiming joined the tour, presenting Li with an overview of the firm's offerings.

Following the visit, CXMT announced significant advancements in a novel memory-cell architecture intended to boost memory density. This innovation is also being pursued by competitors such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. CXMT president Cao Kanyu announced that a next-generation server memory product, based on the aforementioned breakthrough, would be introduced by the end of the year.

At a subsequent symposium, Li – formerly head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology – reiterated his unwavering support for CXMT's growth. In the first half of 2026, the company's revenue surged by 874 percent from a year prior, reaching 150.3 billion yuan (US$22.5 billion). Net income attributable to parent shareholders experienced an even more substantial increase, jumping 3,428 percent year-over-year to 77.6 billion yuan for the six-month period.

Li emphasized Anhui's commitment to leveraging CXMT's position as an industrial supply chain leader to attract additional upstream and downstream partners, with the aim of bolstering the province's IC sector. The province intends to cultivate world-class advanced manufacturing clusters. Established in 2016, CXMT has been a top priority for Anhui's previous party secretaries. Liang Yanshun, Li's predecessor, had visited the company in July 2024.

The "Hefei model," named after the city where Li Lecheng is based, has since been adopted by numerous cities throughout China. Hefei initiated support for promising yet loss-making enterprises in 2008, investing in strategic industries and offering incentives to attract high-tech firms. Apart from CXMT, the city now hosts prominent corporations like electric vehicle (EV) producer Nio.

Hefei's annual EV production capacity is approximately 1.37 million units, accounting for roughly one out of every 12 vehicles manufactured nationwide.