LYON, France- The semiconductor memory industry has long been a strategic priority for China’s economic development. Chinese companies purchase more than 30% of the NAND and DRAM products manufactured by global IDMs, while China’s self-sufficiency in memory is currently estimated to be below 15%.
The large gap between memory consumption and production in China is fueling the country’s burning desire to produce an ever-increasing amount of NAND and DRAM wafers locally.
“The restrictions set in October 2022 by the US government have resulted in strong headwinds against China’s memory ambition, jeopardizing the fab-capacity expansion and the roadmap execution of Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC) and ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), the two leading Chinese memory IDMs ”, explains Simone Bertolazzi, PhD. Principal Analyst, Memory at Yole Intelligence.
The restrictions prohibit US companies – including leading-edge equipment suppliers – from exporting certain technologies to Chinese companies. The technologies in question include those related to equipment used for manufacturing leading-edge NAND and DRAM devices vital for YMTC and CXMT to progress and become competitive in the very challenging memory business.
