China’s top memory chip maker can’t wean itself off US for now

  • Yangtze Memory Technologies Co currently gets more than 80 per cent of its chip manufacturing equipment from the US and Japan
  • The company has said it will invest US$22 billion in a facility in Wuhan that is by far China’s most advanced factory for 3D NAND flash memory chips

Wuhan-based Yangtze Memory Technologies Co, which successfully designed and manufactured China’s first 3D NAND flash memory in 2017, introduced in April its 128-layer, 1.33-terabyte X2-6070 chip. Photo: Handout
China’s top flash memory chip maker sees no easy way to replace US chip manufacturing equipment, underscoring how a further crackdown on the supply of American technology will devastate the local semiconductor industry.

Yangtze Memory Technologies Co currently gets more than 80 per cent of its equipment from the US and Japan, according to Zheng Jiuli, vice-president in charge of supply chain management. While some Chinese suppliers have made breakthroughs in areas including etching, cleaning and coating, there are not enough local alternatives to replace everything, he added.

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