China Pouring Billions Into New Memory Chip Production
Date
11/14/2023 7:10:30 AM
(MENAFN- Asia Times) China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) and Yangtze Memory Technologies Co Ltd (YMTC) have raised billions of dollars in new capital to finance the continued expansion of their memory chip operations in defiance of US sanctions on the sector.
CXMT has reportedly received 39 billion yuan (US$5.4 billion) in funds to complete the construction of a new DRAM factory whose total cost is expected to exceed four times that amount.
YMTC, China's heavily-sanctioned NAND flash memory maker, has also apparently raised several billion dollars to develop and purchase alternatives to the US, Japanese and European equipment it is currently denied under US-led sanctions. YMTC's capital raising follows $7 billion in financing announced last year.
The state-run China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund is a key source of funding for both semiconductor firms. The capital raising reports are consistent with China's efforts to build a more autonomous semiconductor industry in response to US sanctions that seek to cripple the crucial industry.
CXMT is China's largest DRAM maker and fourth-largest supplier of DRAM in China after South Korea's Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, and Japan's Micron Technology.
Established in 2016, CXMT is headquartered in the city of Hefei and has factories there and in Beijing. CXMT's customers include makers of mobile phones, computers, servers, consumer devices and Internet of Things-related equipment.
The US Commerce Department has not yet put CXMT on its Entity List, though until July of this year, US export restrictions on US production equipment caused delays in its new factory's construction. After a clarification of the regulations in CXMT's favor, it is back on track with mass production expected to begin by 2026.
CXMT is now ramping up what it calls a 17nm process but what industry analysts say is actually closer to 19nm and therefore outside the 18nm boundary set by US sanctions. CXMT's technology is believed to be three or four generations behind Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron.
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