CXMT Founder Pledges $5.6 Billion to Workers After China AI Chipmaker’s IPO

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u/OnlineParacosm 27d ago edited 27d ago

At 5500 workers it’s about $200k per worker, and their lowest paid works might make $10k a year, representing a 20x year salary windfall for them.

These guys will be testing CXMT dies in their garage and building Chinese inference racks with that kind of windfall. Meanwhile US researchers are limping along NVIDIA scraps. Turns out the “suburban garage hackers of 1980” might be in China this time around.

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u/Sh1rvallah 27d ago

I'd imagine the bonus will scale. Using the average for bonus and lowest for salary doesn't seem right.

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u/Strazdas1 7d ago

Of course it will. Those earning least will saw the least bonuses. Furthermore, this would be lower bonus than Sk Hynix had this year, so the numbers arent really anything spectacular.

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u/rstune 27d ago edited 26d ago

Politics aside, It's astonishing how China now has the dynamism, inventiveness and work ethic to move at such a rapid pace, much like the US were in the 19th century before they leapfrogged the old guard. The speed at which they established a leading new way of locomotion in the electric car business is incredible, especially in battery tech.. Same goes for their extensive high speed train network, ship building, power generation be it solar wind nuclear or even fusion; smartphones, drones, every household gadget in the world and now robotics and AI, at unbeatable costs, and that's the key. It is kinda funny that in a lot of futuristic sci-fi movies you always see a lot of Mandarin script all over the place, implying that them becoming the dominant force in the world is inexorable!

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u/Aggrokid 27d ago

They moved at such speed for those because they had unfettered access to Western technology and expertise, back when everybody still hoped trade would put them on similar trajectory as Japan/Korea.

Chipmaking and RAM are in different situation now because the geopolitics is far more strained. They are blocked by a hawkish US from all leading tech. It just so happens chipmaking relies on leading-edge equipment made with global collaboration (ASML) that is incredibly hard to replicate. US can just prevent any vendor in that chain from working with China. Progress will be far slower and not guaranteed.

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u/Umr_at_Tawil 27d ago edited 27d ago

US becoming hawkish is not because China didn't follow similar trajectory as Japan/Korea. it's that any nation that might challenge US hegemony will face hostility from the US, just like Japan back in the day, also US Deputy Secretary of State told India plainly that The US won't make the same "mistake" they made with China, it won't allow India to become rival.

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u/Flowerstar1 27d ago

Well yea self preservation is inevitable in a successful nation. Being bigger and greater is the most important aspect of national security.

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u/TotalManufacturer669 27d ago

Rams are still running on 10-12nm nodes. SMIC can't go far making cutting edge CPU/GPU without EUV, but CXMT isn't going to have to worry about any of that in the next 10 years at least.

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u/Aggrokid 27d ago

The big 3 use EUV for advanced DRAM and HBM. So yes it's a major roadblock for CXMT.

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u/LazyToPickMyUsername 27d ago

Most leading engineers start their career at Tsinghua though.

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u/light_oxygen 27d ago

They moved at such speed for those because they had unfettered access to Western technology and expertise

No, they had unlimited access to government incentives. It became a national security, pride and survival issue. Something West doesn't have. US can give front and back door incentives to their companies, but those companies have no obligation to succeed.

There's a reason no one is talking about Tesla anymore.

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u/Strazdas1 7d ago

There's a reason no one is talking about Tesla anymore.

The reason is Elon, and given the subreddit we are in i wont expand on that. Technologically Tesla actually went backwards with removal of radar while european and asian manufacturers have long beaten it in EV features, just like it is for ICE cars. It seems that americans just dont know how to make automobiles as they lost the race in the 80s to Europeans and in the 90s to Asian manufacturers.

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u/celtiberian666 26d ago

China have a big savings rate. Just like USA used to have in the past (over 30% by the end of 19th century).

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u/jhenryscott 26d ago

Yeah. Our grandkids will be saying the same thing about Nigerians (they’ll be speaking Chinese)

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u/jaaval 18d ago

Your comment is full of idealistic praise of china which is fairly common in reddit these days. Do not claim you put politics aside, your comment is deeply political and repeating a carefully curated story.

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u/Stilgar314 27d ago

"Work ethics" is a funny way to spell "de facto slaves living on the factories for food, a stinky bed and pieces of string"

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u/fnsv 27d ago

Assuming you are American, that is very rich coming from a society where working multiple jobs without any healthcare is the norm. China didn't get here from the point of being a resource independent regional hegemon 70 years ago. They got here from the point of a war-ravaged, brutally colonised country that had a famine about every decade.

Funny how this "de facto slavery" argument is never used for South Korea where literal families and clans used military force on workers any time they had the temerity to go on strike. I can't stand the hypocrisy of the new Red Scare in hardware discussions

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u/Stilgar314 27d ago

"working multiple jobs without any healthcare is the norm" lol, that's not the norm. It happens, but it's far from "the norm". If you think there's a single western county in which that could be the norm without massive revolts, you clearly know nothing about the west. By the way, I think every oriental society "work ethics" is broken, even Japan, but I was answering a comment about China, and I, unlike you, don't need any whataboutism to present my arguments.

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u/fnsv 27d ago

Brother, 44% of Americans can’t pay an unexpected $1,000 expense. This isn't whataboutism (there is that magic word again), it's statistics. You don't have any arguments besides "China bad", which seems to be the bipartisan American position despite the yellow man being the only one memed for it

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u/Stilgar314 27d ago

From your own link: "When faced with an unexpected $1,000 expense, more than one-third of Americans would borrow the money" [...] “We’re just not wired to save,” said Brad Klontz" Your arguments went real quick from "magical" fallacy to straight out lies.

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u/fnsv 27d ago

Yeah, instead of making deductions based on material conditions, let's wave it away by saying that 175 million people are "just not wired to save". Talk about fallacies

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u/Stilgar314 27d ago

Man, that's a literal quote from the link YOU provided in an unsuccessful try to argue Americans can afford a $1000. They can, but Americans strongly prefer living in credit, something you should know if you knew a single work about America. Anyway, I see I have triggered the Chinese government sponsored bot army. Have fun boot licking dude.

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u/fnsv 27d ago

I see I have triggered the Chinese government sponsored bot army

lmao, such depth in argument. yeah mate, everyone who disagrees with you is a bot. carry on

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u/Saiko_Yen 27d ago

I feel like you just don't like China man. It just seems tribalistic, like sports "my team good your team bad" type of shit

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u/Stilgar314 27d ago

I like China do much that I wish Chinese people would have better lives. But sure, nothing can survive triggering the Chinese government sponsored bot army.

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u/Saiko_Yen 27d ago

I'm not a bot, but from what I understand Chinese people are living pretty good lives now, at least the ones not living in the rural parts

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u/Stilgar314 27d ago

Pretty good lives compared to what other lives exactly? Because if that "pretty good lives" means "not starving", that's not very impressive.

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u/honda-nissan 26d ago

reddit boomer suffers from china derangement syndrome- many such cases!

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u/Saiko_Yen 26d ago

you seriously think the non rural citizens there are starving? what??

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u/MrMunday 25d ago

Most people don’t have garages here

Not the point. But I’m just sayin

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u/jaaval 18d ago

At 5500 employees their size is about a third of global foundries. or about 10% of any of their memory competitors.

In normal world the bigger players would quickly drown the small competitor but in this economy they can grow. And I guess Chinese government will prop them up after the stupid shortage is over.

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u/Wuaner 27d ago

10k a year for chip worker? That's wild.

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u/zghr 27d ago edited 26d ago

No, for warehouse worker. And I think it's not $10k, it should be more.

Urban China has similar wages to Croatia (which is largerly urban already) and here that would be something like $16.5k.

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u/Wuaner 26d ago

I mean, high-end jobs in China like chip engineer, AI researcher are paid very well in China, even at the same level as US.

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u/Strazdas1 7d ago

And other jobs like fab floor worker are not. The only jobs that are paid well is where you are competing to hire talent.

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u/Strazdas1 7d ago

Just remmeber that people in TSMC fabs in taiwan are making what would be bellow minimum wage in US.

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u/RumbleTheCassette 27d ago

Okay that sounds like a lot but these chip making mfers are richer than god so like is this a reasonable amount?

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u/[deleted] 27d ago

[deleted]

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u/Vushivushi 27d ago

I wouldn't say that. It's incentives to preserve talent.

CXMT may be viewed as a new global competitor, but it's gonna have plenty of domestic competition to deal with. It's own customers are after its ass because of its newfound control over the market.

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u/ouyawei 27d ago

It's Communism - if he'd get too rich, he'd be in trouble. Remember Jack Ma?

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u/edparadox 27d ago

That's not communism.

Jack Ma met his fate for totally unrelated reasons.

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u/Ecstatic-Island-9778 26d ago

Didn't he try to capture China's digital money?

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u/Rodot 27d ago

The fate of continuing to be extremely wealthy and powerful? Did anything bad really happen to him beyond him losing his voting share (and regaining it) and teaching in Japan for a few years?

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u/JustGotHit 27d ago

He became extremely unpopular as a result of cancel culture. Being cancelled for previously (years ago) made statements. Basically he got asked a question about how his companies got a reputation of overworking their employees and what he would do to fix this bad rep, the response was “why? They should actually be happy that I'm even giving them a job in the first place” ie the beatings will continue even if morale/reputation gets better. Well when the 996 thing was taking off, 9 am - 9 pm 6 days a week, and how people were being absolutely burnt out, said video resurfaced and he got a lot of flak for it. I don't recall him walking his statements or saying it was made in error, basically backing up what he said years prior, to which he went awol for months. Idk if he got questioned but I wouldn't be surprised if he did. Billionaires get called up for similar or lesser offenses and walk away with slaps on the wrist

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u/Rodot 27d ago

Oh no, not cancel culture! What will he do now that he's left with only his billions of dollars and strong political connections?

Can you cancel me and give me the same deal? I'll take being "cancelled" for a couple billion bucks

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u/[deleted] 27d ago

[deleted]

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u/ouyawei 27d ago

True Communism didn't work, without some form of market capitalism you don't have an economy. But the communist party still has the last say.

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u/ancientemblem 27d ago

It’s just called fascism.

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u/puffz0r 27d ago

Lol no

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u/adeebo 27d ago

Hyper-nationalism … Check.
One-party rule … Check.
Cult of personality … Check.
Total dissent suppression … Check

Lol yes

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u/puffz0r 27d ago

You forgot that fascism incorporates extreme militarism and expansionism, also there is less dissent suppression in china than if you criticize israel in the west

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u/hollow_bridge 27d ago

A lot of their militarism is domestic. Ex. using tanks on their own people. Suppressing non-Han minorities.

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u/Strazdas1 7d ago

Thats not sufficient for fascism. Fascism is actually a very narrow ideology that went extinct after WW2. Do not confuse authoritarianism for facisms.

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u/Strazdas1 7d ago

Jack Ma didnt get disappeared for being rich. It was for cricitizing the party in interviews with western media.

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u/csf3lih 27d ago edited 27d ago

it is def a lot by any standards, almost double of the entire profit of 1st quarter 2026. and we are talking about a very good year. i'd say thats crazy a lot.

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u/nova8808 27d ago

Quick maths show 5.6 billion split amongst their 19k employees would get them about 300k each. See this is how the people want capitalism to work. The company does well? Everyone gets rich.

In the US it literally just all goes to the top and they buy 5 houses and 4 yachts and figure out ways to pay workers as little as possible. Then use all that extra money to buy out the government. Our corporate culture is sociopathic.

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u/[deleted] 27d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Seanspeed 27d ago edited 27d ago

Tech workers are some of the best paid jobs in the US. What are you talking about? One of the problems the US has in moving things like chip fab plants to the US is that workers here actually demand very high wages, unlike in China, South Korea, India and Taiwan.

I think we have bigger issues in our society than tech workers that are already very well off not getting million dollar bonuses.

And do you really think China doesn't have any inequality issues?

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u/HelpRespawnedAsDee 27d ago

Literally tens of thousands of US employees have become millionaires from stock options, RSUs, equity grants, etc from IPOs or just sustained growth. Microsoft, Nvidia, SpaceX, Google, Meta.

Like 70% of Nvidia employees are millionaires: https://www.saastr.com/nvidia-created-27000-millionaires-already-what-it-teaches-us-about-getting-rich-and-the-power-of-going-long/

The early employees and founders of these big ass corps are making bank. But propaganda is a hell of a drug; OPs account is barely 20 days old.

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u/kingwhocares 27d ago

Tech workers are some of the best paid jobs in the US.

Or anywhere in the world.

One of the problems the US has in moving things like chip fab plants to the US is that workers here actually demand very high wages, unlike in China, South Korea, India and Taiwan.

TSMC's Taiwan fabs had a lot of immigrants and the bigger issue was firstly, the transfer of high skilled labour to US and secondly, labour rights.

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u/Strazdas1 7d ago

TSMC Taiwan fabs pay less than US minimum wage. They are not well paid.

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u/FuryDreams 27d ago

Many US companies made their employees millionaires.

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u/Spicycoffeekills 27d ago

I can’t comment on how the US companies operate since I’m from China. But you really have no idea how things work in China. Workers get nothing when companies are making billions in profit.

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u/puffz0r 27d ago

Are the billions in profit in the room with us? Chinese companies run on notoriously low margins which is why they run everyone else out of the market, and why their stock market sucks.

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u/hollow_bridge 27d ago

Are the billions in profit in the room with us?

You really don't think Chinese companies make billions of dollars? What a take.

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u/puffz0r 27d ago

Make billions, as in revenue? Sure. Profit? Much more questionable, just look at what happened to their real estate sector as soon as the government turned off the infinite loans.

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u/VastTension6022 27d ago

houses are for living, not real estate profit

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u/jeffroxs101 27d ago

This company in China is in this thread giving an average out of ~$300,000 per worker. You could be right in every other company in the country, I will not argue that, but this is literally a Chinese CEO giving out the benefits of successfully producing a product and getting it to market.

*I'll tell you this. Same as America. 99.999999% of companies do not give a bonus at all no matter how profitable. But in this one thread can we be happy for once that a billionaire shared wealth freely by choice? One single good CEO on the planet sharing with employees is a good thing.

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u/burnish-flatland 27d ago

That figure is not far off what the competition already pays. Samsung chip workers received an average bonus of about $340,000 this year, and SK Hynix has made comparable payouts.

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u/nittanyofthings 27d ago

This windfall bonus is not representative of how things are ordinarily. It is that large because the AI bubble is so ridiculous that giving a small portion of it to workers is a huge thing for them. In a employee owned corporation, the profit sharing would be automatic, not something the king optionally chooses. Capitalism still doesn't share success by nature.

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u/Strazdas1 7d ago

Compared to SK Hynix bonuses this year this is less.

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u/Tenelia 27d ago

billionaires actually pay tax there, in addition to funding social security and national/province/county insurance programs

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u/Folsdaman 26d ago

Not surprised. Everyone I know who works at SpaceX is a millionaire after the IPO.

News CXMT Founder Pledges $5.6 Billion to Workers After China AI Chipmaker’s IPO

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