The Chinese chip company claims to have caught up with Samsung in memory chip technology

Leading Chinese chip manufacturer, Yangtze Memory Technologies, said it can now produce chips with the most advanced technology, comparable to international companies that are leading the world. Even so their mass production capabilities still need to wait for a response.

On Monday, the Chinese company announced its 128-layer NAND Flash 3D memory chip models, which have been confirmed by its partners and the first batch of chips will start production from the end. this year. Other world leading memory chip manufacturers such as Samsung, Kioxia (formerly Toshiba Memory), Micron and SK Hynix also began mass production of such chips this year.

Currently, companies like Samsung and Kioxia are still producing 96-layer NAND Flash 3D memory chips, while Yangtze Memory has just started producing 64-layer memory chips from the second half of 2019. Memory chips with many More layers are harder to develop and produce, but are also more cost effective, which can bring higher memory capacity into a chip.

” Despite being a new player in the flash memory industry, Yangtze Memory is taking 3D NAND to new heights .” Grace Gong, vice president of marketing and sales of Yangtze Memory, said. ” We are able to achieve the results we have today thanks to the incredible synergies created through our close collaboration with global partners in the industry, as well as our significant contribution. from our staff . ”

These include many of the world’s leading NAND flash controller chip developers, as well as chip packaging and testing service providers, such as Phison Electronics, Silicon Motion, Lite-On Technology and Amkor. These suppliers also partner with companies like Samsung and Micron.

If production goes according to plan, it will partly help China get closer to its goal of autonomy on important memory chips. Especially with NAND Flash memory chips, when the supply is controlled by international companies such as Samsung, Kioxia, SK Hynix, Micron and Intel.

These chips are basic components for almost all types of electronic devices, from computers, smartphones, data center servers to data-connected smart cars. So far Yangtze Memory is the only Chinese company capable of producing these types of chips.

Yangtze Memory’s chip factory during construction.

The importance of Yangtze Memory to the Chinese chip industry is so great that, even if its headquarters is located in Wuhan, the corona virus epidemic in this country, it is still open for business. City blockade. Even company employees can get in and out of the city thanks to special permits from the central and local governments.

Meanwhile, Avril Wu, an analyst at research firm TrendForce, said that Yangtze Memory still needs to overcome many other technical obstacles to complete the production process of its new chip. However, ” by far, this is the most promising company for China’s hope to build a solid semiconductor industry and reduce dependence on foreign chipmakers .”

” If everything goes according to plan, we expect Yangtze Memory to start releasing products that put pressure on existing competitors in the market from the end of next year, 2021. ” Wu said.

References Nikkei