Chinese dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips maker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) formally filed suit Aug. 28 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, naming the Department of Defense, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy Michael Cadenazzi as defendants. China’s largest memory chipmaker said that the Pentagon’s decision to place it on the so-called “Chinese military companies” list was “arbitrary,” unsupported by evidence, and violated its due-process rights, Global Times reports. The paper quotes CXMT’s claim that their chips are of their own design and manufacture, and are “for civilian and commercial use, not for military use,” and that each of the U.S. determinations is not supported by “factual record, by applicable law, or by reasoned decision-making.”
The Global Times article notes that the U.S. claims this is for “national security,” but the real purpose is “technological hegemony.” They note that, “The list has ballooned in recent years—from 134 companies in January 2025 to 188 this June. Even more telling is its industrial spread: from traditional aerospace and shipbuilding to electric vehicles, new energy, biopharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence, and every other field Washington regards as a ‘new frontier of US-China strategic competition.’ Globally recognized civilian companies—Alibaba, Baidu, BYD, BOE, WuXi AppTec—have all been swept in.”
