---
title: "What China’s HBM Catch-Up Should Teach Korea"
summary: |-
  Korean and industry reports suggest China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) is moving faster in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips than many in Seoul expected. Korea still leads. But the margin is narrowing, and that should change how Seoul thinks about its AI goals.
date: "2026-07-02"
issues: ["Artificial Intelligence", "National Competitiveness"]
authors: ["Daniel Castro", "Sejin Kim"]
content_type: "Op-Eds & Contributed Articles"
canonical_url: "https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/opinion/20260702/what-chinas-hbm-catch-up-should-teach-korea"
---

# What China’s HBM Catch-Up Should Teach Korea

Two headlines in June should shape Korea’s artificial intelligence (AI) debate. The first was a victory lap. SK Hynix overtook Samsung Electronics by common-share market capitalization for a day, powered by high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in AI systems. Samsung has a fair caveat: If preferred shares are included, it remains larger. But the market signal was clear. AI has turned memory from a cyclical commodity into critical infrastructure.

The second headline was less comfortable. Korean and industry reports suggest China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) is moving faster in HBM than many in Seoul expected. Korea still leads. But the margin is narrowing, and as Daniel Castro and Sejin Kim [write in ](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/opinion/20260702/what-chinas-hbm-catch-up-should-teach-korea)*[The Korea Times](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/opinion/20260702/what-chinas-hbm-catch-up-should-teach-korea)**,* that should change how Seoul thinks about its AI goals.

[Read the column](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/opinion/20260702/what-chinas-hbm-catch-up-should-teach-korea).

---
*Source: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)*
*URL: https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/opinion/20260702/what-chinas-hbm-catch-up-should-teach-korea*