The next-gen flash memory fab of Samsung Electronics Co. at its Chinese chip base of Xian went into production on schedule early this month regardless of the epidemic spread in China.

According to industry sources on Monday, Samsung Electronics held the opening ceremony of its second memory plant in Xian devoted to the production of fifth-generation V-NAND with a monthly initial output of 20,000 wafers.

The tech giant aims to bump up the monthly output from the second Xian factory to 65,000 wafers under its first-phase investment plan in hopes to better respond to the rising demand for NAND flashes from late last year.

The NAND flash memory chip, which can store data but does not require a persistent power source like DRAM, is used in various types of storage devices including solid-state drives found in smartphones and computers. Its prices started increasing since late last year on growing demand in the booming IoT, AI and VR markets.

The fifth-generation V-NAND stacks more than 90 layers of 3-dimensional charge trap flash (CTF) cells in a pyramid structure, with microscopic channel holes drilled vertically throughout. It reduces the height of each cell layer, minimizes crosstalk between cells and improves data storage capacity, the company said.

The Xian factory is the only overseas memory chip production base to Samsung Electronics. The company runs three NAND flash production bases in Hwaseong and Pyeongtaek, Korea and Xian, China.

Samsung Electronics shares on Tuesday fell 3.27 percent to finish at 47,300 won ($38.09) in Seoul.

By: DocMemory
Copyright © 2023 CST, Inc. All Rights Reserved