China gets into memory business to become self-sufficient

Posted on Wednesday, October 23 2019 @ 14:46 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
In recent years, China made a big effort to get a homegrown memory industry off the ground. But one key elements to understand here is that the country isn't trying to compete with rivals and supply NAND and DRAM chips to the rest of the world. A new report by EE Times talks about this and points out that China's primary goal is to become self-sufficient. The country currently buys about $117 billion a year in semiconductors from other countries, so this move will have a profound impact on the rest of the industry.

Money isn't really an issue for China, but the country does lack experience:
It won’t be a lack of funds that will get in the country’s way, said Handy. The key hurdle is that China’s never done it before. “They don’t have any sophistication from the standpoint of manufacturing capabilities and that’s [an area where] they have got a lot of learning to do.” While the country is recruiting talent to get up to speed, he said — particularly from Taiwan and Korea at inflated salaries — “generally these are people who have never worked together in a team before. There’s likely to be some difficulty for them to make things happen expeditiously.”
China aims to make 40 percent of the chips consumed in China by 2020 and 70 percent by 2025. These aggressive goals are up from 20 percent in 2015.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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