Qualcomm Collaborates with Chinese Company to Create Custom Chips for DRAM Memory

The crisis in memory is changing the balances in the tech sector and is also impacting the smartphone market, leading to an increase in production costs. To address this issue, Qualcomm has begun collaborating with the Chinese company CXMT, which specializes in the production of DRAM memory. The goal is clear: to develop custom memory chips for use in smartphones with Snapdragon SoCs.

A Necessary Solution for Qualcomm

The project arises in a context where DRAM memory accounts for about 35% of the production costs of an affordable smartphone (considering the Bill of Materials), while NAND memory covers an additional 19%, bringing the total share to 54%. This is a huge percentage that risks drastically reducing the availability of affordable smartphones on the market, increasing production costs.

Such a scenario will also harm Qualcomm, which relies on numerous customers using its 4nm chips for low and mid-range smartphones. Therefore, the American company’s idea is to work on developing custom DRAM, with more accessible economic conditions for smartphone manufacturers, thanks to the partnership with CXMT, which could start yielding its first fruits in the near future.

The custom DRAM is expected to be primarily used by smartphones from Chinese manufacturers, who are the most affected by the price increase, as also confirmed by data on smartphone sales trends in Q1 2026.