Leading PC manufacturers HP, Dell, Acer, and Asus are considering purchasing memory chips from Chinese manufacturers for the first time amid a global supply crisis that threatens new product launches and drives up prices across the tech industry, Nikkei Asia has learned, UNN reports.
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According to three sources familiar with the situation, HP has begun testing products from leading Chinese memory chip maker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) to expand alternative supply sources.
HP plans to continue monitoring the memory chip supply situation until approximately mid-2026, and if DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) supply remains constrained and prices continue to rise, the company will likely begin purchasing CXMT products for markets outside the US for the first time, sources said.
According to one source, Dell is also testing DRAM products from CXMT, fearing that memory prices will continue to rise throughout 2026.
While passing the qualification process does not necessarily mean they will definitely use CXMT chips, sources say that a number of PC manufacturers are considering the Chinese company as a potential "savior" for the consumer electronics industry, as the priority of leading global memory chip manufacturers - Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix - is to provide their capacities to AI giants such as Nvidia, Google, and Amazon. This situation has put many low-margin and price-sensitive consumer electronics markets in a difficult position.
The memory chip crisis has also created an excellent opportunity for Chinese contract electronics manufacturers to play a more important role in the supply chain, several industry executives told Nikkei Asia, with some brands asking these manufacturing partners to help expand memory component sources.
Acer, the world's sixth-largest PC maker, has increasingly relied on Chinese contract manufacturers for design and production in recent years to cut costs, and has also been open to using Chinese-made memory chips if they were purchased by Chinese contract suppliers, three people told Nikkei Asia.
"As long as Chinese suppliers start using their new capacities, it will help improve the memory shortage situation," Jason Chen, chairman of Taiwan's PC maker Acer, recently told reporters.
According to two sources, the world's fifth-largest PC company, Asustek, has also asked its Chinese manufacturing partners to help with memory chip supply for some laptop projects, if possible.
In the past, PC manufacturers sought to control the procurement of some key components, including main processors, displays, and memory, while contract electronics manufacturers primarily handled the procurement of less critical parts and performed assembly work as directed.
"However, amid a massive global memory shortage, this dynamic is changing, and PC manufacturers are now hoping that their manufacturing partners can leverage their own supply chain connections to expand memory procurement opportunities," a supply chain executive told Nikkei Asia.
An executive at a gaming PC manufacturer told Nikkei Asia that he takes a conservative view on how much Chinese memory chip suppliers will be able to help alleviate the supply shortage, given that the standard process for selecting new suppliers takes about two quarters. "In addition, we know that the vast majority of new capacity will be prioritized for Chinese companies such as Huawei and Lenovo, leaving little room for others," he said.
Nevertheless, Chinese memory chip manufacturers are already impacting the global market, although for now they mainly serve domestic customers.
CXMT products are already used by many Chinese smartphone manufacturers, including Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo, as well as computer manufacturers such as Lenovo, and their cloud service providers such as ByteDance and Alibaba Cloud. Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp. (YMTC) has become one of the leading NAND memory manufacturers by market share, despite being on the US trade blacklist, and is even independently entering overseas markets, the publication writes. The company recently launched its ZhiTai solid-state drive (SSD) line in Taiwan, and also offers SSD products in Singapore, the Philippines, and Thailand through T-Mall.
Both DRAM and NAND are important memory components for all types of electronic devices. DRAM plays a crucial role in system performance by providing fast data access, while NAND is the primary data storage component in laptops and computers.
Memory chip manufacturing has long been controlled by a few companies from South Korea, the US, and Japan, but CXMT's share of the global DRAM market grew to approximately 5% by revenue, while YMTC had about 10% of the NAND market in 2025, according to Counterpoint data. Both companies are significantly expanding production capacity, as reported by Nikkei Asia. According to research firm Yole Group, both CXMT and YMTC have exceeded 10% market share by wafer volume.
HP did not respond to Nikkei Asia's request for comment. Dell and Asus declined to comment for this article.
Acer stated: "We do not disclose our suppliers, but we maintain close contact with numerous global manufacturers and suppliers to dynamically adjust operations and manage component price changes. We work with numerous manufacturers and suppliers to enhance the resilience of our supply chain."