A South Korean court ruled that Chinese memory maker CXMT utilized a documented Project Hefei roadmap copying a 620-step Samsung DRAM manufacturing process to capture 10% of the global market.
The saga involving Chinese DRAM maker CXMT’s alleged theft of Samsung’s trade secrets continues to unfold in South Korean courts, where multiple convictions have already been secured, including prison sentences for two former Samsung engineers. According to leaked court documents cited by Korean publication NoCut News, the latest developments center on “Project Hefei,” a purported CXMT roadmap detailing long-term planning for technology “acquisitions,” personnel poaching, and production tape-out. This strategy appears to have directly facilitated CXMT’s rise to 10% of the global DRAM market.
Prosecutors allege that Project Hefei constituted CXMT’s entire DRAM development plan, spearheaded by the company’s head of development—a former Samsung DRAM development lead—around August 2016, shortly after CXMT’s founding in June 2016. The alleged blueprint outlined a strict timeline: secure Samsung’s Process Recipe Plan (PRP) by September 2016, recruit key Samsung engineers by October 2016, complete R&D by July 2017, and begin producing DRAM wafers by August 2018 at a rate of 10,000 monthly. The PRP dataset reportedly comprises 620 steps in DRAM manufacturing, encompassing detailed data on equipment, consumables, and production methods.
In August 2016, CXMT initially attempted to manufacture 18nm wafers relying solely on the recollections of newly hired Samsung engineers. When these memories proved insufficient, the company allegedly gained illicit access to Samsung’s PRP and drafted its own technical document by September 2016. This internal version included specific equipment suppliers and model numbers, alongside process development notes unique to Samsung. When distributed to key specialists—many of whom were former Samsung employees—the document was immediately recognizable as originating from the Korean firm. As a witness in the case, convicted former Samsung researcher Jeon, who received a seven-year prison sentence for manually copying portions of the PRP prior to joining CXMT, corroborated these details.
The legal proceedings, which began in January 2024, extend beyond a simple corporate espionage case. Historically, the DRAM market has been dominated by the “Big Three”: Samsung, Micron, and SK hynix. CXMT was established in Hefei in June 2016 with approximately $1.9 billion USD in government investment, allegedly lacking any initial R&D facilities or research plans. Transitioning from zero infrastructure and institutional expertise to DRAM wafer production in just over two years would be unprecedented; establishing a functional memory fabrication plant typically requires two to four years, leaving little room for independent research. Despite this, CXMT claimed in 2019 that it had designed its then-new 8 Gb DDR4 chips entirely in-house as a “leapfrog, independent” technology and commenced local sales.
Surging AI-driven demand catalyzed explosive growth for CXMT, expanding its estimated global DRAM market share from 4% in Q2 2025 to roughly 10% in Q2 2016. This shift marked the first time in over a decade that the Big Three collectively controlled less than 90% of the market. CXMT now operates three 12-inch wafer fabrication facilities, projected to produce a combined 350,000 wafers by year-end—nearly matching Micron’s output of 375,000 to 385,000. The company is also planning a second fabrication plant in Beijing, targeting monthly production exceeding 600,000 wafers once operational.
CXMT’s financial metrics reflect rapid scaling. Revenue surged 716% in Q2 2026 alone, and its July 2026 IPO on the Shanghai STAR Market saw its stock price climb 466%, valuing the company at $8.6 billion USD and establishing it as the most valuable chipmaker on the Chinese stock exchange. Approximately 70% of the proceeds are directed toward further DRAM production expansion rather than more complex High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). Nevertheless, CXMT has supplied HBM3E samples to Alibaba’s T-Head and Cambricon, even as Samsung and SK hynix advance into HBM4 production. Independent research indicates CXMT could capture 30% of the DRAM market by 2030 and is projected to match Micron’s memory capacity by 2026.
As of December 2025, South Korean prosecutors calculated Samsung’s damages from CXMT’s alleged activities at “at least tens of trillions of won.” Extrapolating from that baseline, current estimates suggest the figure may approach ₩40 trillion ($29.5 billion USD) and continue rising exponentially. If the allegations hold, CXMT’s actions represent a geopolitical-scale economic event, fundamentally altering the semiconductor landscape.