GigaDevice votes today on a 37.5% bigger DRAM wafer bill from CXMT, its chairman's other company
At an extraordinary general meeting in Beijing this afternoon, shareholders vote on lifting the 2026 cap on CXMT wafer purchases to RMB7.85 billion, against a 2027 run-rate near RMB13.2 billion. The chairman of both companies abstains.
Vincent Jiang · 3 min read
At 2:30pm Beijing time today, GigaDevice Semiconductor polls shareholders in a sixth-floor meeting room on Anding Road in Beijing on paying RMB2.14 billion more this year for DRAM wafers it does not make itself 1. The extraordinary general meeting vote would lift the company's 2026 ceiling on those purchases by 37.5% 1.
GigaDevice, dual-listed in Shanghai and Hong Kong, designs NOR flash chips and its GD32 microcontroller line, and since 2021 has outsourced its niche DRAM products, DDR4, DDR3 and LPDDR4X, to CXMT for manufacture 1. CXMT, listed on the STAR Market, Shanghai's technology board, is China's only volume producer of DRAM wafers 12.
Zhu Yiming founded GigaDevice and chairs both companies 13. He and InfoGrid Limited are named in the circular as having a material interest in the resolution and will abstain from voting 1. The Inference covered CXMT's sevenfold quarter on October 17; what is new since is the buyer's side of the upcycle, the cap vote itself and the 2027 run-rate it discloses.
The cap rises 37.5%, and 2027 starts even higher
Chinese listing rules require companies to cap and disclose annual spending between related parties in advance, which is why the increase needs a shareholder vote 2. The circular of September 28 lifts the 2026 ceiling on CXMT foundry purchases from RMB5.711 billion to RMB7.854 billion, up 37.5%, because foundry prices rose with the market 1. GigaDevice had spent RMB3.596 billion of it by the end of August, 45.8% of the new cap 1.
The same notice forecasts RMB4.411 billion of purchases for January to April 2027 alone, an annualized pace near RMB13.2 billion, roughly 70% above the 2026 ceiling 13. That annualized figure is illustrative, not a company forecast 1.
GigaDevice's wafer bill: the 2027 run-rate towers over the 2026 cap
- Estimate
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| 2026 cap as budgeted | RMB5.71bn |
| 2026 cap as revised | RMB7.85bn |
| 2027 run-rate, annualized (estimate) | RMB13.23bn |
The seller's record profit is the other side of the bill
The stated driver is price, not volume 1. An July 8 supply-chain report expected DDR4 8Gb contract prices to rise more than 50% quarter on quarter in the third quarter 4. TrendForce's news desk put overall DRAM contract prices up roughly 40% in the third quarter, after about 80% in the second, and sees about 20% in the fourth 5.
DRAM prices climbed 80 percent, then 40 percent, with a 20 percent fourth quarter in view
Data
| DRAM contract price, QoQ | |
|---|---|
| 2Q26 | 80% |
| 3Q26 | 40% |
| 4Q26, expected | 20% |
CXMT earned RMB77.6 billion of net profit on RMB150.3 billion of revenue in the first half of 2026, against RMB1.87 billion of profit in all of 2025 1. At a October 19 shareholder meeting it guided nine-month net profit to RMB131–132.5 billion, reversing a RMB5.3 billion loss a year earlier, with the full report due October 31 6. GigaDevice's rising wafer bill and CXMT's record profit trace to the same price increases.
GigaDevice's own numbers are the defense
Trailing-twelve-month revenue runs at RMB16.6 billion against RMB9.2 billion in 2025, net income at RMB7.9 billion against RMB1.65 billion, and gross margin near 57% against 40% 7. DigiTimes put first-half profit growth at 1,092% 8. On those figures, selling prices have so far outrun the rising foundry bill 7.
The board, independent directors included, calls the CXMT pricing market-based and fair, and recommends approval 1. TrendForce also reports CXMT's third-quarter profit growth easing to 1–4% quarter on quarter on moderating DRAM prices; if that cooling continues while the wafer bill steps up, the pass-through gets harder 6.
The next cap filing settles it
Watch the poll result today, then the new cap GigaDevice must file for May 2027 onward, due by spring 3. If the new cap is again set near 70% higher, the upcycle is still setting prices; if it is flat, GigaDevice's margin absorbs the increase.
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