China’s Top Memory Chipmaker Sues Pentagon to Overturn Military Designation — BigGo Finance

ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), China’s largest maker of DRAM chips, filed a lawsuit Friday against the U.S. Department of Defense, challenging the Pentagon’s decision to keep the company on a list of firms it says are aiding Beijing’s military.

The complaint, submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks to overturn the designation and have CXMT removed from the roster, which can trigger government contracting restrictions and inflict reputational damage. Named as defendants are the Defense Department, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, and Michael Cadenazzi, assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy.

“CXMT is not affiliated with the Chinese military,” the company said in the lawsuit. “CXMT designs, produces, and sells its DRAM chips for civilian and commercial use, not for military use.”

The Pentagon declined to address the litigation directly. “As a matter of policy, the Department does not comment on pending or ongoing litigation,” a Defense Department spokesperson said.

CXMT was first placed on the Chinese military company list in January 2025, during the Biden administration. The Trump administration retained the designation in a June update. According to the complaint, CXMT spent more than a year supplying information to contest the designation and pressing for removal.

In February 2026, the Pentagon published a notice indicating CXMT would be taken off the list, only to withdraw it later that same day, the company alleged. The Defense Department then relisted the chipmaker in June without adequately explaining its reversal, according to the filing.

“None of these determinations is supported by the factual record, by applicable law, or by reasoned decision-making,” CXMT said, arguing that the Pentagon’s action was “arbitrary,” lacked evidentiary support, and violated its due-process rights.

The company said it has suffered ongoing reputational and commercial harm since the original designation.

CXMT is China’s top producer of dynamic random-access memory chips, which are widely used in smartphones, personal computers, servers, artificial intelligence systems, and other electronics. Revenue in the first half of 2026 surged 874% from a year earlier, according to a Japanese-language report by Reuters. The company has long-term ambitions to enter the U.S. market.

Broader pattern of challenges

The lawsuit follows a similar legal push by other Chinese companies contesting Pentagon designations. In June, Alibaba (9988.HK), the Chinese technology and e-commerce giant, sued the U.S. government over being placed on the same list of businesses the Defense Department links to China’s military.

Those cases reflect mounting frustration among Chinese firms over the expanding use of the military-company designation, which can complicate access to U.S. government contracts and deter potential commercial partners even without formal sanctions.

For CXMT, the stakes extend beyond government procurement. The company has signaled interest in entering the American market, a goal made more difficult by a designation that associates it with China’s armed forces. The outcome of the litigation could shape how the Pentagon justifies future listings and whether companies gain a clearer path to contest them.

Note: The lawsuit was filed on August 28, 2026, U.S. time, according to Reuters.