China’s YMTC makes world’s most advanced memory chip in ‘surprise technology leap’: TechInsights report

Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC), China’s leading memory chip producer, has manufactured the “world’s most advanced” 3D NAND memory chip known to be in a consumer device in a “surprise technology leap”, according to a report by TechInights.

YMTC’s memory chip, found in a solid-state drive launched quietly in July, shows that the manufacturer has continued to develop advanced technology despite being hampered by sanctions after it was placed on the US Commerce Department’s Entity List, according to a Wednesday report by the semiconductor analysis firm.

The development follows an earlier teardown analysis by TechInsights of the Kirin 9000S 5G processor found in US-blacklisted Huawei Technologies’ Mate 60 Pro smartphone released in August, which was said to be made by Chinese foundry Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC). The powerful home-grown chip surprised many industry analysts given the tough US restrictions in place.

“Like the innovation revealed by TechInsights in the Huawei Mate 60 Pro’s HiSilicon Kirin 9000s processor (which used the SMIC 7-nm (N+2) process), evidence is mounting that China’s momentum to overcome trade restrictions and build its own domestic semiconductor supply chain is more successful than expected,” said TechInsights in its report.

3D NAND memory is at the forefront of memory chip design and is an important component for high-performance computing in applications such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.

YMTC and 21 other “major” Chinese players in the chip sector were added to the US Entity List in mid-December 2022 amid escalating trade and geopolitical tensions between the world’s two largest economies.