Beijing (GNP): China’s top memory chipmaker, ChangXin Memory Technologies, known as CXMT, has filed a federal lawsuit against the Pentagon over its inclusion on a list of companies the United States says are aiding Beijing’s military.
In its filing, CXMT states it is not affiliated with the Chinese military, saying it designs, produces and sells its DRAM chips for civilian and commercial use rather than military purposes. The US Defense Department has declined to comment, saying it does not discuss pending or ongoing litigation.
CXMT was designated a Chinese military company under the Biden administration, and the Trump administration retained the company on the list in a June update. The lawsuit seeks to overturn that designation and have CXMT removed from a list that can trigger government contracting restrictions and reputational damage.
The company says it has continuously suffered reputational and commercial harm since its initial designation in January 2025, adding that it is pursuing legal action to protect its broader business interests.
CXMT holds the position of China’s leading maker of dynamic random-access memory chips, components widely used across smartphones, personal computers, servers and artificial intelligence systems. The company’s revenue rose sharply in the first half of the year, and it has expressed longer-term ambitions to enter the US market, adding weight to its effort to clear the Pentagon designation from its record.
The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, names 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.
At the core of CXMT’s case is the argument that the Pentagon’s decision was arbitrary, lacked evidentiary support and violated the company’s due-process rights. According to the complaint, CXMT spent more than a year supplying the Pentagon with information intended to challenge the designation and secure its removal from the list.
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The company says the Pentagon published a notice in February indicating it would be removed, only to withdraw that notice the same day, and alleges that the Defense Department failed to adequately explain its reasoning when it subsequently relisted the company. CXMT says none of the determinations behind its listing are supported by the factual record, applicable law or reasoned decision-making.
This legal challenge places CXMT among a growing number of Chinese companies contesting their inclusion on the Pentagon’s list. In June, Chinese technology and e-commerce giant Alibaba filed a similar lawsuit against the US government over its own designation. Smartphone and electric-vehicle maker Xiaomi previously succeeded in getting itself removed from the list in 2021 after filing suit in a US court, a precedent CXMT’s case appears to follow as it seeks a similar outcome.
