China-based Tsinghua Unigroup reportedly will tie up with Wuhan Xinxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (XMC) to develop memory products, including NAND flash chips, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report.

Meanwhile, the Tsinghua-XMC team is also approaching Micron Technology, aiming to ink a licensing agreement from the US-based memory company to produce 3D NAND flash products, said the paper.

The Tsinghua/XMC-Micron cooperation will follow a so-called Inotera Memories model, under which Micron will receive licensing fees and a portion of memory production capacity from Tsinghua/XMC, the paper added.

XMC currently has a 12-inch fab with a production capacity of 20,000 wafers a month and is building a new one with a monthly capacity of 200,000 wafers by 2018. XMC aims to develop 3D NAND flash products for IoT applications.

A possible cooperation with Tsinghua/XMC is also positive for Micron as it needs more production capacity to compete with rivals including Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Toshiba which are all ramping up their 3D NAND flash capacity, said the paper.

By: DocMemory
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