A portion of 30nm DRAM production at Powerchip Technology has been hit by low yield rates, affecting about 7,000-8,000 of the wafers that Kingston Technology has booked, according to industry sources.

The yield problem was caused by ion implantation equipment, said the sources. Output from the affected production capacity may not be completely scrapped, but they definitely cannot be sold to PC OEMs due to quality concerns, the sources indicated.

Kingston has booked a capacity for about 20,000 wafers monthly at Powerchip's P3 12-inch wafer fab, the sources revealed. Powerchip uses 30nm process technology to manufacture DRAM chips for Kingston.

Yield problems with Powerchip's 30nm process will likely worsen the shortage of DRAM chips on the contract market, the sources noted.

A September 4 fire at SK Hynix' memory fab in Wuxi, China has caused tight DRAM supply to the contract market. SK Hynix's China plant accounts for nearly half of the 260,000 DRAM wafers Hynix produces every month, or more than 10% of the world's DRAM wafer production, according to DRAMeXchange.

SK Hynix said that it expects to resume normal operations at the fire-hit plant by the end of October.

By: DocMemory
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