The China high-end IC Alliance (CHICA), which was set up by China's National Semiconductor Industry Investment Fund (known as the Big Fund) earlier in 2017, is looking to add another sub-alliance to promote and enhance the development of China's local memory industry.

CHICA in April 2017 disclosed its first sub-alliance aimed to promote the development of China's local sensor and IoT industry. The alliance already has 27 partners including IC companies such as SMIC and Tsinghua Unigroup, and universities and research institutes.

CHICA expects to expand its partner portfolio by attracting more memory chipmakers to participate in it, and plans to form its second sub-alliance aimed at the development of China's local DRAM and 3D NAND flash memory sector. Yangtze River Storage Technology (YMTC) is already among the CHICA partners, and the alliance intends to draw the participation of Fujian Jin Hua Integrated Circuit and Hefei Rui-Li (transliterated from Chinese) Integrated Circuit.

YMTC under the Tsinghua Unigroup expects to enter mass production of 64-layer NAND chips by 2019, while Jin Hua and Rui-Li are both looking to develop their own process technologies for DRAM manufacturing.

YMTC plans to offer samples of its 32-layer 3D NAND products at the end of 2017, and expects to be capable of mass producing 64-layer NAND chips in 2019, company acting chairman Charles Kau was quoted in previous reports. By 2020, YMTC will narrow the technology gap with its bigger rival Samsung Electronics to two years, Kau claimed.

Fujian Jin Hua has Taiwan-based United Microelectronics (UMC) help develop 3Xnm and 2Xnm DRAM technologies, with the first-generation 3Xnm to be ready for volume production when Jin Hua starts operating its new 12-inch fab by the end of 2018.

Formerly named Hefei Chang Xin, Rui-Li will reportedly start installing equipment at its new 12-inch fab at the end of 2017, which is ahead of schedule. The fab will directly enter the manufacture of 19nm DRAM chips, and Rui-Li is expected to start making its first batch of DRAM products built using the node technology at the end of February 2018, previous reports quoted industry sources as saying.

By: DocMemory
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