Memory manufacturer YMTC wants to use Chinese equipment for production 3D nand

Chinese memory manufacturer YMTC wants to use locally sourced equipment to create 3D nand memory. Sources report this to the South China Morning Post. The company would have placed large orders with Chinese producers for this.

YMTC is making the investments as part of a project called Wudangshan, report sources to SCMP. The company is said to have placed orders with, among others, Naura Technology Group from Beijing, which produces etching machines and thus competes with the American LAM Research. The company allegedly asked equipment makers to remove all logos and other signs from their equipment to avoid further US sanctions. writes TechPowerUp.

The Chinese memory maker announced last year that it had made “significant progress” in the development of are advanced X3-9070 memory chips. The chipmaker would provide those memory chips with 232 layers. However, those plans were complicated when YMTC was placed on the US entity list late last year. With that, the company can no longer buy advanced chip production equipment that uses American technology.

How many layers will get the first YMTC memory chips made entirely with Chinese equipment is not yet known. For several Western products that are subject to export restrictions, such as certain ASML advanced lithography machines, there are no equivalent Chinese alternatives.