China's largest listed DRAM maker's preliminary results show nine-month revenue of up to 270 billion yuan and net profit of up to 132.5 billion yuan, against losses a year earlier. Third-quarter profit rose only about 1% to 4% from the second quarter.
CXMT's numbers are among the strongest in the memory-chip industry. On Monday, investors focused on how fast they are still improving.
CXMT, China's largest listed maker of DRAM memory chips, said in a preliminary filing that its revenue for the first nine months of 2026 was 265 billion to 270 billion yuan, up from 32.08 billion yuan a year earlier. Net profit attributable to shareholders was 131 billion to 132.5 billion yuan, compared with a loss of 5.28 billion yuan. The chairman also proposed a share buyback of 1 billion to 2 billion yuan over 12 months, subject to approval.
The stock fell 7.8% to 41.52 yuan in Shanghai on Monday, its first session after the filing, and its lowest since the company listed in July.
The quarter inside the nine months
The filing does not give third-quarter figures, but they can be derived. CXMT reported first-quarter revenue of 50.8 billion yuan and second-quarter revenue of 99.51 billion yuan. Subtracting those from the nine-month range implies third-quarter revenue of about 114.7 billion to 119.7 billion yuan, up 15% to 20% from the second quarter, by this publication's arithmetic, and roughly six times the year-earlier level.
Profit tells a different story. First- and second-quarter net profit totaled about 77.6 billion yuan, which implies third-quarter profit of about 53.4 billion to 54.9 billion yuan. That is up only about 1% to 4% from the second quarter's 52.8 billion yuan.
In other words, revenue kept climbing while profit nearly stalled. At the margin, the revenue added in the third quarter produced far less additional profit than growth did in the first half.
What the gap could mean
The company did not explain the difference. Several factors could produce it: higher costs as new capacity comes online, a shift toward lower-margin products, or price increases that slowed relative to volume growth. The preliminary filing does not break out margins or pricing, so the cause cannot yet be pinned down.
CXMT said in the filing, in an English translation of the Chinese text, that "the demand for AI computing power has rapidly increased" since the second half of last year and that "the economies of scale are continuing to manifest." Goldman Sachs analysts have argued that the market may have underestimated China's capacity expansion in memory while overestimating its technological progress.
The wider memory trade
The drop came after a hard week for chip stocks. Elsewhere in Asia on Monday, Samsung rose about 1.2% and SK Hynix about 0.4%, so the selling was specific to CXMT rather than the whole memory group.
Market implications
One reading is that the AI memory cycle remains intact. Revenue is near record levels, the company is profitable on a large scale after years of losses, and management is confident enough to propose a buyback.
A second reading is that the cycle's second derivative has turned. Profit growth of 1% to 4% on revenue growth of 15% to 20% suggests rising costs or softer pricing at what may be a peak, and investors who bought the July listing on rapid profit gains are reassessing what they are paying for.
What to watch
CXMT's full third-quarter report; DRAM contract prices for the fourth quarter; progress in qualifying high-bandwidth memory with customers; approval of the buyback; and results from Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron. A margin breakdown showing pricing pressure would confirm the second reading.