Chinese semiconductor company Montage Technology reported a sharp surge in revenue and profit in the March quarter, following a significant rise a year earlier, in a sign of the country’s expanding presence in the memory chip segment.
The Shanghai-based integrated circuit design firm, which supplies connectors to dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips, said in a filing on Wednesday that its first-quarter revenue reached 1.21 billion yuan (US$166 million), up 65.78 per cent year on year. Net profit jumped 135.14 per cent to 525 million yuan from 223 million yuan a year ago.
Montage attributed its strong growth last quarter to the artificial intelligence (AI) industry, as demand rose for DDR5 (Double Data Rate 5) DRAM chips used in high-performance computing systems and data centres. Shipments of both its DDR5 and RCD (Register Clock Driver) chips have grown substantially, the company said on Wednesday.
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Montage is currently one of the world’s three main suppliers of DDR5 connector chips, along with Japan’s Renesas Electronics and US-based Rambus. Most clients of Montage are from outside China, according to its 2024 annual report.
That reflects China’s growing presence in the global semiconductor supply chain, despite US tech restrictions.
China’s top DRAM manufacturer, ChangXin Memory Technologies, on Wednesday issued a rare recruitment announcement for its Japanese subsidiary, as the company aims to take on SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics and Micron Technology in the global market.
Overall revenue for Montage in 2024 rose 59.2 per cent year on year to 3.64 billion yuan, while net profit increased 213.1 per cent, Montage said in its latest annual report published earlier this month.
Montage was established in 2004 by Howard Yang Chonghe, who serves as the firm’s chairman, chief executive and chief scientist. He previously worked on chip design and development at companies such as National Semiconductor in the US, according to the company’s website.
Along with Montage, a number of other leading Chinese chip companies have reported strong financial results on the back of the country’s efforts to achieve technology self-sufficiency, despite tightening US sanctions.
Beijing-based Cambricon Technologies, an AI chip designer that supplies domestic alternatives to Nvidia’s graphics processing units, last week posted first-quarter revenue of 1.11 billion yuan, up 4,230 per cent from a year earlier.
Nvidia earlier this month said it would take US$5.5 billion in charges after the US government moved to require licences for exports to China of its H20 AI chip, which were tailored for mainland companies to train AI models.
Chinese semiconductor equipment vendors have also recently seen sales grow, with Naura Technology Group projecting 51 per cent year on year increase in first-quarter revenue.
Shanghai-based Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment saw its 2024 revenue surge 44.73 per cent from 2023. The company’s founder, chairman and chief executive Gerald Yin Zheyao renounced his United States citizenship and restored his Chinese nationality, according to its latest annual report published last week.
More from South China Morning Post:
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- Nvidia supplier SK Hynix unseats Samsung as world’s DRAM chip leader on AI boost
- Huawei to roll out AI chips in second half as potential alternative to Nvidia H20: report
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