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China’s top memory chip maker Yangtze Memory Technology Corp. (YMTC) has not commented publicly on the possibility of U.S. sanctions because Chinese technology companies tend to keep a low profile amid geopolitical risks.
Washington plans to ship US equipment used to make advanced NAND chips to China, the Wuhan-based company said in a report this week.
In a July 28 letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and half a dozen other senators from both parties outlined the “growing threat” that Chinese semiconductor manufacturers like YMTC pose to national security and U.S. chip companies.
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YMTC Factory. Photo: Handout alt=A YMTC factory. Photo: Handout>
YMTC, which is not currently on any US business blacklist, is not the first time that YMTC has been threatened with punishment by US politicians.
However, the silence of the YMTC, which last year denied ties to the Chinese military, comes as the US steps up its efforts to control China’s growing semiconductor industry over national security concerns.
The Chips and Science Act, passed by the US House of Representatives and Senate last week, promises to provide $52 billion in subsidies to semiconductor manufacturers that build factories or fabs on US soil.
The US is also trying to form a chip alliance with South Korea, Japan and Taiwan to isolate China from the global semiconductor supply chain, and is pressuring Dutch chip equipment giant ASML to stop selling more lithography systems to wafer fabs in China.
The growing hostility coincides with technological breakthroughs by China’s major chipmakers, which have refrained from talking much about their success.
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. neither confirmed nor denied a recent analyst report that the company has developed capacity to manufacture 7-nanometer chips.
And while YMTC showed off a new, advanced NAND flash chip — described by the company as a “key industry milestone” and the “highest bit-density flash product in YMTC’s history” — at the Flash Memory Summit in California this week, the company’s press release revealed the layers of memory cells inside the chip. He did not specify an exact number.
YMTC and its parent company Tsinghua Unigroup did not respond to a request for comment.
According to Chinese state media, Global TimesYMTC’s new chip is made of 232 layers of memory cells.
According to Stewart Randall, head of electronics and embedded software at consulting firm Intralink, the Chinese chipmaker is basically on par with international peers.
US memory chip maker Micron Technology said last week that it had begun production of the world’s first 232-layer NAND chip and would begin mass production this year. This week, South Korean chip giant SK Hynix said it has developed an “industry-leading” NAND flash chip with 238 layers of memory cells.
The U.S. government is targeting potential sanctions against YMTC because officials fear the Chinese company could push up prices and profits to gain market share, undermining the market, Randall said.
YMTC accounted for 5 percent of the global market for NAND flash memory chips in 2021, and its share is expected to exceed 10 percent by 2027, according to industry research firm Yole Development.
In order to expand production and advance the production level in competition with international rivals, YMTC announced that it is strengthening the construction of the second factory and started the installation of equipment in June. Nikkei Asia.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice report on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please browse the SCMP app or visit SCMP’s Facebook page and Twitter Pages. Copyright © 2022 South China Morning Post Publishers Limited All Rights Reserved.
Copyright (c) 2022. South China Morning Post Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
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