Hefei Chang Xin keeps low profile but DRAM ambition rem…

Hefei Chang Xin’s ambition to grow its DRAM business has seen some progress though the China-based firm has now chosen to keep a low profile. The company has been quietly renamed to Rui-li (transliterated from Chinese) Integrated Circuit, and has asked fab toolmakers to start shipping at the end of 2017, according to industry sources.

Rui-li plans to start installing equipment at its facility in the first quarter of 2018, and has been in talks with silicon wafer providers to ensure a sufficient supply of silicon wafers during 2018 when its fab comes online, said the sources. Backed by the Hefei city government of China’s Anhui province, Rui-li is looking to operate a 12-inch wafer fab capable of producing 125,000 units monthly with total investment estimated at US$7.2 billion.

Rui-li has reportedly hired a number of former employees of Inotera Memories, which has been acquired by Micron Technology. The employees is now being sued by the US vendor for allegedly stealing trade secrets and other confidential information.

According to TrendForce, former Inotera VP David Liu has joined Rui-li.

Nevertheless, Rui-li already has two teams of R&D staff in Hong Kong, the sources noted. One of the teams is formed by former SK Hynix employees, and the other by the staff previously worked for Elpida Memory, the sources said.

Micron VP of global manufacturing Wayne Allan was quoted in a recent report saying the company is committed to protecting its intellectual property rights and will pursue legal methods if necessary. The aim is to prevent China-based companies from stealing Micron’s patents and technology.

Micron is also suing former employees of its Taiwan-based subsidiaries which have been headhunted by Tsinghua Unigroup and Fujian Jin Hua Integrated Circuit, according to various Chinese-language media reports.

Tsinghua Unigroup has concentrated its memory efforts on the development of 3D NAND technology, since developing DRAM technology could involve patent disputes, the sources said. Tsinghua Unigroup has subsidiary Yangtze River Storage Technology (YMTC) use technology from Cypress (formerly Spansion) to produce 32- and 64-layer 3D NAND chips.

Led by former Inotera chairman Charles Kau, YMTC will invest a total of US$24 billion in the establishment of its 12-inch facilities and key memory technologies, the sources indicated. YMTC is eyeing to be China’s largest 3D NAND chipmaker.

Fujian Jin Hua will have production technologies developed by Taiwan’s United Microelectronics (UMC), and is constructing a 12-inch wafer fab for the manufacture of DRAM products with a goal of processing 120,000 wafers monthly. Equipment move-in at the fab is slated for early 2018 followed by volume production in the second half of the year, according to the sources.

Categories: Bits + chips Memory chips

Tags: 12-inch 12-inch wafer 2017 2018 China DRAM equipment fab government Inotera investment joint venture Micron Micron Technology semiconductor silicon silicon wafer wafer fab

Companies: Inotera Memories

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