The United States is considering limiting shipments of American chip industry equipment to me memory chip makers in China including Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., Ltd. Ltd. (YMTC), according to four people a favour with The matter is part of An attempt to stop the progress of China’s semiconductor sector and protect American companies.
If the administration of President Joe Biden continues with The movemaybe also hurt south korea memory In their interview, the sources said that Samsung Electronics Co.Ltd and SK Hynix Inc. on condition of Anonymity. Samsung has two big Factories in China while SK Hynix Inc buys NAND flash from Intel Corp memory wafer manufacturing business in China.
The campaign, if approved, will include a ban shipment of American chip industry equipment for factories in China which manufactures advanced NAND chips.
would represent first US tender through export controls to target Chinese production of memory chips without specialty military Apps that represent a more expansive view of American national security, according to export control experts.
The move also You will seek to protect the United States only memory Chip producers, Western Digital Corp and Micron Technology Inc. , which together represent about quarter of NAND chips market.
NAND chips store data in Devices such as smartphones, personal computers and in data centers for Likes of Amazon, Facebook and Google. How many gigabytes? of phone data or laptop Hold can be determined by how Includes multiple NAND chips and how They are advanced. Under the measure under consideration, US officials are banning exports of tools To China used to make NAND chips with more From 128 layers, according to two layers of Sources. LAM Research Corp and Applied Materials, both based in Silicon Valley, they are the primary suppliers of Such as tools.
All sources described the management’s view of It’s as in early stages, with No proposed regulations have yet been drafted.
asked that comment on The possible movespeaking for The Ministry of Commerce that supervises export controlsHe did not discuss potential limitations but noted that “the Biden administration is focused.” on Weakening the efforts of (China) to manufacture advanced semiconductors for large processing national Security risks to the United States.
fast growing company
YMTC was founded in 2016, he rising power in Manufacture of NAND chips. Micron and Western Digital are under pressure from lower YMTC prices, White House writes in June 2021 report. YMTC expansion and lower price offerings represent a “direct threat” to Micron and WD the report said. The report described YMTC as a Chinese company.national Champion’ the recipient of About 24 billion dollars in Chinese subsidies.
YMTC, already Under investigation by the Ministry of Commerce over Whether it violates US exports controls By selling the chips to the Chinese telecom company Huawei, it is in talks with Apple to supply the best smartphone maker in the United States with flash memory chips, according to a Bloomberg report.
LAM Research Corp, SK Hynix, Micron declined to me comment on United State policy. Samsung and Applied Materials Inc did not respond. and YMTC and Western Digital Corp immediately for orders for comment.
Congress Act
Tensions between China and the United States over The tech The sector deepened under Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump and has continued ever since. Reuters reported on July 8 that the Biden administration also Consider the limitations on Shipments to China of tools to advance logic chips, in an attempt to hamper China’s largest chip maker, SMIC.
U.S. Congress last This week, legislation aimed at helping the United States was approved compete with China invests billions of dollar in Domestic chip production.
The chipmakers that take money Under this measure, it is prohibited to building or expand manufacturing for Some advanced chips, including advanced memory chips at a level set by management, in countries Including China.
According to Walt Conn of Yole Intelligence Consulting Firm, YMTC Accounts for about 5% of NAND flash worldwide memory Chip production, approx double From year Ago. Western Digital stands at around 13% and Micron 11%. Kun said YMTC would be hit hard by the restrictions like The one that the Biden administration is considering.
“If they’re stuck at 128, I don’t know how They will have a right path forwardConn said.
Produce of NAND chips in China has grown more from 23% of all over the world total this is year of less than 14% in 2019, during production in The United States decreased from 2.3% to 1.6% over In the same period, Yole data showed. For American companies, almost all of them of Their chips are produced overseas.
The potential impact of the potential restrictions was not clear on else players in China. Intel, which maintains a contract to manage operations in The factory you sell to SK Hynix in China is already Producer memory Chips with 144 layers at the Chinese site, according to an Intel press release.
