Popular Taiwanese Internet resource DigiTimes that the manufacturer of China's first 3D NAND memory, Yangtze Memory Technology (YMTC), is aggressively improving product yield. As we reported, in early September YMTC to the mass production of 64-layer 3D NAND memory in the form of 256 Gbit TLC chips.
Separately, we note that the release of 128-Gb chips was previously expected, since the very first YMTC products (and very limited in production volumes) were 32-layer 64-Gb 3D NAND chips. Thus, the Chinese manufacturer, as it were, emphasized its technological maturity and ability to quickly move forward. YMTC, by the way, decided to skip the production stage of 96-layer chips and immediately in a year or a little later will start producing 128-layer 3D NAND.
Further, our Taiwanese colleagues continue, the successful reduction of the defect rate allows us to state that mass shipments of 3D NAND YMTC chips to SSD manufacturers will begin in the first quarter of 2020. This means that SSDs with Chinese memory, Chinese controllers and Chinese firmware will start hitting the market next spring. So far, 3D NAND production volumes in China are very modest for purely Chinese SSDs to enter the international market, but in China itself they will gradually begin to spread and, obviously, mainly through government agencies.
It is also interesting to note that YMTC is close to completing the construction of the buildings of its in China - near the city of Chengdu. The company's first 300mm plant has already been commissioned and built in Wuhan, and the second one is receiving production equipment and built near Nanjing. The total capacity of all three industries will amaze the imagination and will significantly exceed 300 300-mm plates per month.
Returning to YMTC SSDs, we note that the first likely manufacturer of Chinese SSDs the local company Longsys, which, moreover, has the rights to the Lexar brand, recognizable in the west.
Source: 3dnews.ru