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China's YMTC moves to break free of U.S. sanctions by building production line with homegrown tools — aims to capture 15% of NAND market by late 2026
China's YMTC moves to break free of U.S. sanctions by building production line with homegrown tools — aims to capture 15% of NAND market by late 2026

Yahoo

timea day ago

  • Business
  • Yahoo

China's YMTC moves to break free of U.S. sanctions by building production line with homegrown tools — aims to capture 15% of NAND market by late 2026

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC), China's leading producer of NAND memory, has been on the Entity List of the U.S. Commerce Department since late 2022, which essentially bars its access to advanced fab tools. Despite sanctions and restrictions, YMTC plans to expand its production capacity this year, aiming to capture a 15% share of NAND memory production by the end of 2026, reports DigiTimes. The company also plans to build a trial production line that exclusively uses Chinese fab tools. YMTC to expand capacity to 150,000 wafer starts per month YMTC was expected to reach a monthly capacity of 130,000 wafer starts per month (WSPM) by the end of 2024, which equates to roughly 8% of the worldwide NAND supply, according to DigiTimes. While YMTC's abilities to procure fab tools from leading producers, such as ASML, Applied Materials, KLA, and LAM Research are extremely limited, the company still plans to increase its production capacity to around 150,000 WSPM. Earlier this year, the company began mass production of its X4-9070 3D TLC NAND memory, featuring 232 active layers and a total of 294 active layers. The company's 5th Generation NAND memory bonds two structures containing 150 and 144 layers together to achieve a total of 294 layers. The increased output, combined with the increased number of layers (or gates per vertical NAND string), effectively increases NAND memory bit output for YMTC. However, it remains to be seen whether such a strategy can enable the company to double its market share and achieve 15% of the global NAND output by late 2026. Unlike other global NAND suppliers, who are cutting production and investment due to soft demand and pricing pressure, YMTC continues to expand. Bit growth across the industry is forecast to rise by about 10% to 15% in 2025, but YMTC is expected to ramp up its bit growth aggressively. In addition to its flagship 1TB 3D TLC X4-9070 device with a 3600 MT/s interface, the company intends to release its 3D QLC X4-6080 device later this year. We do not know how many active layers this device will use, though it is more than likely that it will retain the 294-layer production technology. Next year, the company will introduce its 2TB 3D TLC X5-9080 device, as well as a 3D QLC X5-6080 device with a 4800 MT/s interface. The 2TB NAND device will enable YMTC to build high-capacity SSDs with very high performance. Though it remains to be seen whether the company can produce enough of these particular chips. YMTC's next-generation node will likely use more than 300 layers and will likely require the company to bond three 3D NAND structures together. This means that wafers will spend more time in the fab, therefore reducing the number of wafer starts per month, but increasing bit output. A new hope? Under the export rules imposed in late 2022, American companies cannot ship tools that can be used to make 3D NAND memory with over 128 layers to Chinese entities. Of course, the U.S. government cannot ban the usage of string stacking (the technology used by YMTC to build its 232L 3D NAND), so YMTC can continue scaling its 3D NAND using American tools. However, the U.S. Department of Commerce put YMTC into its Entity List in December 2022, which means that American companies should get an export license from the Department of Commerce to sell tools to the Chinese company. We do not know whether or not YMTC managed to acquire any new American tools after 2022, but the NAND flash producer plans to begin trial production on a new manufacturing line built entirely with domestically developed equipment in the second half of 2025, according to DigiTimes. This marks a major step forward in China's goal to reduce reliance on foreign semiconductor production tools. However, a 100% localization of fab tools is well beyond what analysts may think is possible for Chinese chipmakers today. Looking ahead, YMTC is expected to account for approximately 30% of China's NAND consumption in 2025, but its output still falls short of national demand. The upcoming trial line is expected to help YMTC ease output constraints, even though yield levels are a major concern, due to Chinese tools being known for lower yields when compared to their American, Japanese, or European counterparts. Analysts believe YMTC's new production line, which exclusively uses Chinese fab tools, could lead to a doubling of YMTC's bit output by the end of 2026, potentially pushing its share of the global NAND market beyond 15%. However, these predictions may be too optimistic, as the new production line will be a trial intended to test the capabilities of tools made in China, not to produce 3D NAND devices in high volume. If YMTC's trial production line results end up being promising, it could scale it to build flash memory chips at volume. However, scaling up will require a lot of time, so YMTC's aspirations of capturing 15% of the NAND market by late 2026 remain optimistic. It is believed that if YMTC's production capacity exceeds 200,000 WSPM, this could also influence global pricing trends. YMTC already leads transition to domestic tools YMTC stands out as the clear leader in China's semiconductor equipment localization efforts, with an adoption rate of 45%, far exceeding both the national average and other major domestic fabs, according to estimates from Morgan Stanley. This aggressive push aligns with its strategic goal of building fully self-reliant NAND production lines amid tightening U.S. export controls. However, a 45% adoption rate is considerably lower than 100%. Among YMTC's domestic suppliers are AMEC (etching tools, chemical vapor deposition tools), Naura Technology (etching tools, CVD tools), and Piotech (atomic layer deposition tools, CVD tools). While Chinese companies are known for world-class etching and deposition tools, it is unclear whether YMTC can source lithography tools that it needs from local suppliers. For now, the best Chinese lithography tool is currently produced in high volume by Shanghai Microelectronics Equipment (SMEE). The SSX600 from SMEE can make logic chips on a 90nm process technology, though it is working on more advanced tools. Other major Chinese chipmakers are progressing with equipment localization more cautiously, and at a significantly lower pace compared to YMTC. SMIC, China's largest foundry, shows a 22% localization rate at its Jingcheng fab, and 18% at its Lingang fab. These results reflect the gradual substitution of foreign tools, likely limited by reliance on advanced lithography systems that China cannot yet produce domestically. Hua Hong (Fab 9) and CXMT, a DRAM manufacturer, both report 20% localization, signaling steady but conservative integration of domestic equipment, especially in mature-node manufacturing where localization is more feasible. YMTC's investment arm, Changjiang Capital, has quietly funded a number of local tool and material suppliers, specifically those tied to its own production network. To avoid attracting unwanted attention from U.S. authorities, these investments are often routed through non-listed or indirect entities. Suppliers have also reportedly been instructed to strip their badges from equipment. While Chinese chipmakers are making incremental progress, their localization levels remain clustered in the 15% – 27% range — well below YMTC's 45% — highlighting the complexity of replacing foreign wafer fab equipment. That said, YMTC's plan to localize 100% of their tools looks unrealistic for now, despite their lofty goals. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

Restoring biodiversity on the Yangtze river: ‘You have to do some balancing and make some difficult choices'
Restoring biodiversity on the Yangtze river: ‘You have to do some balancing and make some difficult choices'

Irish Times

time21-06-2025

  • Science
  • Irish Times

Restoring biodiversity on the Yangtze river: ‘You have to do some balancing and make some difficult choices'

Yang Jin was taking his daily walk along the Yangtze river, close to the Three Gorges Dam, when he spotted something worrying in the water. The 67 year-old pensioner has cultivated a hobby of photographing the Yangtze finless porpoise, an aquatic mammal endemic to the river which was on the verge of extinction a few years ago. A finless porpoise was thrashing about in distress on the water's surface and when Yang looked more closely, he saw that it was entangled in an abandoned fishing net. Although the porpoise lives in the water, it needs to surface for air and this one was in danger of drowning so Yang called the local fishing authorities. They halted all shipping in the area and sent a team via speedboat to cut through the net and rescue the porpoise. The animal had cut itself struggling to escape from the net but its rescuers decided it was not too serious so they released it into the river. READ MORE 'I was worried about its injury and whether it would get infected so I visited every day to photograph and monitor it,' Yang says. 'Fortunately, I captured the moment it leapt out of the water. Its tail showed scars when it emerged, and I found it was pregnant. Around late April to early May, it successfully gave birth to a calf.' The number of finless porpoises in the Yangtze river halved from 3,600 in the 1990s to 1,800 in 2006 and by 2012 there were 1,045 left. But the decline stopped around 2017 and in the five years after that, the population grew by 23 per cent. 'The main reason is the fishery ban,' says Wang Ding, a professor at the Institute of Hydrobiology in the Chinese Academy of Sciences and China's top representative in Unesco's Man and the Biosphere programme. China imposed a 10-year ban on commercial fishing in the Yangtze river, its seven main tributaries and two biggest lakes. Private, recreational fishing is allowed but anything on a bigger scale is punishable by law. 'That's the main measure we have been carrying out to protect the Yangtze river. Also to remove literally every chemical factory at least 1km away from the Yangtze river,' Wang says. 'If you are sitting right here on the bank, you have to go and of course, the government will pay you to move. The water quality has been improved quite a lot. Yang Jin, an amateur photographer of finless porpoises, on a bank of the Yangtze River 'The Yangtze finless porpoise sits right on the top of the food chain of the biodiversity . If he's doing well, it means the biodiversity of the Yangtze river is doing well. If the number is increasing, it means the situation of ecological conditions of the Yangtze river are improving.' Restoring the Yangtze river's biodiversity is made more challenging by the impact of the Three Gorges Dam, the world's biggest hydroelectric power station and one of the most controversial engineering projects ever undertaken. Built between 1994 and 2012, the dam is 2,335 metres long and 185 metres high, creating a reservoir that stretches for 600km. The dam's most important function was to control the flooding that caused huge damage and loss of life along the river, affecting cities like Wuhan and Nanjing, which were home to millions of people. It was also a major new source of cheap, sustainable energy and improved navigation on the river, especially for cargo ships. The Chinese Academy of Sciences warned in advance about the dam's likely impact on the environment and the plan met unusually strong resistance in the National People's Congress. China's generally compliant legislature approved the dam in 1992 with 1,767 votes in favour but 177 voted against it. There were 664 abstentions and 25 invalid ballots. The Three Gorges Dam and low water levels along the Yangtze river in Yichang, China. Photograph: Bloomberg More than 1.3 million people saw their homes disappear under water and were forced to relocate, often to less fertile places with inadequate compensation. Some 1,300 archaeological sites and ancient villages were submerged, including centuries-old temples. The dam destroyed forests, wetlands and habitats for endangered species, trapped industrial waste to create water pollution and triggered thousands of landslides along the river. One of the most seriously affected species was the Chinese sturgeon, a critically endangered species found only in the Yangtze river. 'Chinese sturgeon used to go way up the river more than 1,000km from here to spawn. But because of this dam, the Chinese sturgeon can't go there, to their old spawning area,' Wang says. Prof Wang Ding, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is an expert on the Yangtze finless porpoise The Chinese sturgeon found a small spawning area downstream but their numbers have continued to decline, despite increasingly energetic efforts to save the species. At the Yangtze River Rare Fish Breeding Base, thousands of Chinese sturgeon swim in vast circular steel tanks as they wait to be released into the river. Last year, the breeding base released 200,000 into the Yangtze river and they are planning to increase the annual number to more than a million. Each fish is fitted with a tracking device and at least 70 per cent of those released make the journey downstream into the sea, where they typically spend more than 14 years before coming back to the river to breed for the first time. In the giant turbine room of the Three Gorges Dam power station, red lights mark the turbines that are currently in operation. In the control room, engineers monitor the inflow and outflow of water, the electricity generated and to which parts of central and eastern China it is distributed on the grid. 'If we want to generate more electricity, we must keep the water high. But if we want to control flooding, we must keep the level low. Now it is at a low level. It's not good for our electric power, but it's good for flood control,' says Yang Peng, deputy director of the operations department at the power station. 'We do our best to protect the fish. During the breeding time, we can control the water flow to meet the need of the fish so then fish can breed.' Chinese sturgeon and carp in cultivation tanks at the Yangtze River Rare Fish Breeding Base One problem created by the dam and its reservoir is the spread of algal blooms that form a green scum on the water surface, depleting oxygen in the water and harming aquatic life. The China Three Gorges Corporation, which runs the dam, has invested heavily in mitigation efforts in recent years, under instructions from Beijing, and the water quality is improving. 'We can't say the water quality in the Yangtze river is getting better because of the dam. The Three Gorges Dam creates some problems because it cut out the mainstream of the river. The water flow is getting slower and slower. So that provides a fundamental basis for this algal bloom and that's really bad,' Wang says. 'But the Three Gorges Corporation, they are investing quite a lot of money, required, of course, by central government who said you have to take care of this. So they set up wastewater processing stations in every single town along the river. And also some other big measures like not cutting trees, restoring the forest along the bank, and controlling pollution from farming and stuff like that. These are the reasons the water quality is becoming better. The corporation's actions reflect a remarkable shift in public attitudes and in government policy towards the environment in recent years. Years before he became the Communist Party's general secretary and China's president, Xi Jinping championed the closure of polluting factories as party secretary in Zhejiang province. China's president Xi Jinping championed the closure of polluting factories as Communist Party secretary in Zhejiang province. Photograph: Florence Lo-Pool/Getty Images 'Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets,' he wrote in 2005. 'Lucid waters and lush mountains can bring invaluable assets but invaluable assets cannot buy lucid waters and lush mountains.' Since becoming leader in 2012, Xi has embedded the requirement to balance environmental protection with economic development into national policy. This saw the establishment of five national parks in 2021, with plans to designate 49 by 2035 covering 10 per cent of China's land area. Among the leading candidates for such a designation is Shennongjia Forestry District, one of China's most biodiverse areas with dense primeval forests, alpine meadows and karst landscapes. The forest is also home to the golden snub-nosed monkey, one of China's most endangered primate species. 'When we first established this nature reserve, the population of golden snub-nosed monkeys was only a little over 500. Now, after more than 40 years of protection, there are more than 1,600,' says Yang Jingyuan, head of the reserve's scientific research institute, as he takes a peanut from his pocket and hands it to a monkey. 'We need to protect its living environment and provide a sufficiently large habitat with adequate food, water, and shelter, so that the golden monkey feels comfortable living here. In this case, its population will grow rapidly. Golden monkeys are very gentle. If you don't harm them, they will never actively harm you.' In the core area of the Shennongjia reserve, only those engaged in scientific monitoring can enter. A belt around that allows visitors under restricted conditions and an outer circle is developed with hotels, shops and other businesses. Golden snub-nosed monkeys in Shennongjia Forest, Hubei province 'Sometimes we have to balance all kinds of requirements. For example for the Three Gorges Dam, flood control is about life. It's very important because if the river bank is broken, it could cause many people to die. That's the first most important thing,' Wang says. 'Navigation is another big issue because the river section above the Three Gorges Dam was very narrow and the current was strong. So no big ship could go up all the way to Chongqing. Now it's much better and also, of course, we have clean energy. So you have to do some balancing and make some difficult choices, right?'

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