Tech war: China’s top memory chip maker YMTC to test the limits of innovation under US restrictions
- Chinese chip expert Wei Shaojun said the US has ‘weaponized [chip design] tools and advanced chipmaking tools’, forcing a shift to mature technologies
- YMTC may even postpone construction of its second wafer fab in Wuhan due to disruptions to its procurement supply chain, according to a source
A Chinese chip expert praised China’s top NAND flash maker Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC) for its rival-beating innovation, but cautioned that the country needs to divert its focus to mature technology development after the US imposed sanctions on exports of leading edge semiconductor tech to China.
Since its founding in 2016, Wuhan-based YMTC has been China’s hope for breaking ground in the global market for NAND flash memory chips – a non-volatile semiconductor memory that retains data without power, which is pervasively used in smartphones, tablets and other consumer electronics devices.
However, those hopes have dimmed. In December, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security put YMTC, along with 35 Chinese entities, on a trade blacklist that restricts procurement of US products and services without Washington’s approval. The US alleges that YMTC has provided products to companies already under its export controls, including Huawei Technologies Co and surveillance camera maker Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co.
Foreign chip experts say YMTC’s ability to achieve technology advancement and volume production will be hindered by its lack of free access to US chip-making tools and services, although the company is not expected to collapse immediately.
“It will be very difficult for the memory industry in China to continue to function going forward,” said Nicolas Gaudois, head of Asia Pacific Technology Research at UBS. “Obviously, it is limiting its ability to ramp up new capacity for advanced technologies.”
Wei Shaojun, a semiconductor professor at Tsinghua University and noted industry commentator, said the US has “weaponized [electronic design automation] tools and advanced chip-making tools”, areas where it has an absolute technology advantage, to “curb China’s advanced semiconductor technology development”.
Wei, speaking at a recent industry forum in Shenzhen, said this has forced China to refocus on improving its mature chip-making processes.
He also praised YMTC’s technology innovations, including its Xtacking structure, which was more cost-efficient in the long term.