Huawei is reportedly preparing to move into DRAM manufacturing, aiming to capture a slice of the highly profitable memory business. The company is stepping into a market currently dominated by three major players—Micron, SK hynix, and Samsung—which together control roughly 95% of global DRAM supply.

While smaller Chinese manufacturers like CXMT are already trying to expand their presence, Huawei is a much larger and more strategically significant player. The move aligns with China’s broader push for semiconductor self-sufficiency, especially in the wake of U.S. trade restrictions that have limited access to advanced chipmaking technology.

A State-Backed Approach

Reports suggest Huawei is working with Swaysure, a DRAM maker established in 2022, and Chinese government-linked entities on a new manufacturing facility. The planned plant is said to target a capacity of about 140,000 wafers per month, which would be a meaningful addition to China’s domestic memory production.

For comparison, Samsung produces roughly 500,000 wafers per month, while Micron makes around 250,000 wafers per month. Even with a sizable new fab, Huawei would still enter the market at a much smaller scale than the top three.

The Real Obstacles

Analysts say Huawei’s biggest hurdle may not be its lack of memory-making experience, but rather the difficulty of securing advanced manufacturing tools under U.S. trade pressure. Semiconductor equipment vendors are heavily influenced by Washington, and that makes it harder for Chinese firms to get the machinery needed to build and operate cutting-edge fabs.

“They’re going to struggle with tooling up, since the US has a lot of sway over the world’s semiconductor equipment makers and is using that to prevent tools from being shipped to China,” said Jim Handy, president of Objective Analysis.

Handy said Huawei and Swaysure are reportedly starting with a 28nm process, which could support 8Gb DRAM chips with reasonable yields. But that node isn’t suitable for high-bandwidth memory, so the company would likely focus first on more mature DRAM products.

Possible Timeline

Handy said it’s unclear how far along the project is, but he wouldn’t expect the company to wait too long before trying to bring something to market. He suggested 2028 as a possible window for initial shipments. If memory shortages are still severe by then, Huawei and its partners could ramp production aggressively and maybe reach 2% to 5% of the market by 2030. If the shortage eases, the rollout could take much longer.

Why It Matters

A successful entry would mark another step in Huawei’s evolution from a chip designer that relies on outside memory to a more vertically integrated player with greater control over its hardware stack. It would also help reduce China’s dependence on foreign DRAM suppliers for smartphones, servers, and networking gear.