YMTC 232-layer 3D NAND: an unexpected technological breakthrough

[FIvr]

In addition to the market collapse, YMTC has also been facing strong headwinds due the commercial restrictions set in October 2022 by the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC); the new rules require U.S. vendors to obtain a license to ship and support 128L-and-above NAND equipment to producers that operate in China.

Despite the very challenging context, YMTC has accomplished significant progress.

Link: YMTC 232-layer 3D NAND memory: an unexpected technological breakthrough – The chronicles by Yole SystemPlus

Are we witnessing some unexpected consequences of US sanctions?

 

[nghanayem]

This isn't new (I think teardowns were available in 2022) and isn't really that crazy. Everyone else besides Samsung is at 200+ layers at this point (Micron getting their first), and the volumes at YMTC are low given it is just one moderately sized fab. NAND also has relaxed patterning requirements and wasn't tightly regulated by the prior export limitations. With the current round of sanctions YMTC will have a harder time pushing to the crazy layer counts of tomorrow due to being cut off from the newest generation of etch/dep tools right as they are becoming critical for the newest in high AR structures. Not to say the accomplishment isn't something short of a miracle given how relatively young YMTC is and how tiny they are to giants like Samsung. This stuff is also really hard, so bravo YMTC. But my point is that this isn't a coup by China, rather it is them keeping up. However I think that further progress will be stunted by lower scale, being cut off from the good stuff, and being at a major cost disadvantage.

 

[Paul2]

Not to say the accomplishment isn't something short of a miracle given how relatively young YMTC is and how tiny they are to giants like Samsung. This stuff is also really hard, so bravo YMTC.

I would say it's exactly them being an underdog, and them being in the limelight might be forcing them to go for highly visible projects, while semi giants don't have such compulsion.