【Datachina Comment】 Recently, some media commented that Wuhan Xinxin (XMC) still has a technical gap of at least 3 to 4 years compared to Samsung Electronics. However, in my view, the gap is not just 3-4 years; there are also three major companies in between—Toshiba, Micron, and Hynix.
In the realm of NAND Flash, Samsung Electronics is undoubtedly the leader, and there is no doubt about that. Moreover, they are advancing rapidly in 3D NAND technology, and Samsung Electronics continues to maintain high growth in the NAND Flash sector. According to a report from Global Network on April 4, “Market research firm HIS announced on April 4 that Samsung Electronics’ global market share in NAND Flash surpassed 40% for the first time in three years and six months.” Additionally, figures show that Samsung Electronics’ total sales in the fourth quarter of 2015 reached $2.536 billion.
For latecomers to rise to the top, they not only need to reach the forefront in technology and production capacity but also need to build an industrial chain structure. This is naturally not a problem for Samsung Electronics, Toshiba, Micron, and Hynix, but it poses a challenge for Wuhan Xinxin.
Furthermore, the $24 billion investment plan is enormous, but investing in a semiconductor factory primarily for NAND Flash production requires an initial hardware investment exceeding $10 billion. Coupled with the investment in a technical team, it can be imagined that $24 billion can be easily consumed. This means that building a NAND Flash semiconductor factory from scratch with a $24 billion investment can actually become a small amount.
3D NAND Flash is currently being aggressively pursued by Samsung Electronics, Toshiba, Micron, and Hynix. Whether they can gain market recognition will ultimately be proven only after 3D NAND Flash products mature. Of course, the actual technical gap between them is not easily discernible; merely looking at samples and mass production provides only superficial insights. Sometimes, semiconductor manufacturers have samples but do not enter mass production due to a greater emphasis on product reliability and stability, and the testing after samples also requires time to validate.
Of course, “Wuhan Xinxin, relying on confidence in Spansion technology, launched its 3D NAND plan in 2014, expecting to start commercial production by 2018.” In terms of timing, this is not considered late, although it is about two to three years behind Samsung Electronics, Toshiba, Micron, and Hynix. However, once mass production is achieved, a mature verification will require at least 2-3 years.
However, after reviewing some materials, I found that “Spansion is an American semiconductor technology company primarily focused on NOR Flash, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.” NOR Flash and NAND Flash have technical differences; it is unclear how a company specialized in NOR Flash like Spansion has amassed strong technical capabilities in NAND Flash. (The answer is mentioned later)
In 1993, AMD and Fujitsu merged their respective flash memory divisions to form the predecessor of Spansion, FASL.
In 2003, AMD increased its stake to 60%.
In 2008, Spansion acquired Saifun.
In early February 2009, Spansion’s Japanese subsidiary announced bankruptcy.
In March 2015, semiconductor manufacturer Cypress acquired Spansion, with the transaction involving stock worth up to $4 billion.
This is the available information on the development of Spansion.
Thus, the flash memory technology partner that Wuhan Xinxin is currently collaborating with should actually be Cypress. However, since Spansion has been mentioned, it is worth looking at some of Spansion’s accumulated flash memory technology to give everyone a simple understanding of the NAND Flash technology that Spansion can provide.
It is worth mentioning: In 2005, SMIC collaborated with Saifun and used Saifun’s NROM technology to launch NAND Flash, although sales figures are unclear.
However, later in 2007, media reports indicated that the foundry alliance between SMIC and Saifun had stagnated. Originally, SMIC intended to leverage Saifun’s NROM Flash technology to develop and manufacture storage cards and enter the flash memory field. Unfortunately, progress was halted.
In 2007, a purchase agreement was signed, and in 2008, Spansion completed the acquisition of Saifun. At that time, media commented that “the acquisition would further consolidate Saifun’s IP as a complement to Spansion’s MirrorBit technology, and also allow Spansion to enter the technology licensing business. Furthermore, it could help Spansion expand its MirrorBit product line into markets beyond NOR, including NAND, DRAM, and system-on-chip markets.” It is evident that Spansion also gained technological accumulation in NAND Flash through its partnership with Saifun, as they had been long-term partners before the acquisition.
After Spansion acquired Saifun, it quickly resumed foundry cooperation with SMIC in 2008, reaching an agreement on the production of 65nm MirrorBit Flash memory. They later planned to produce Spansion’s 45nm Flash memory chips.
However, how does the NROM technology perform in flash memory evaluations? Ultimately, it is not technology that decides, but the market.
Following this line of thought, it can be confirmed that Spansion’s technological accumulation in NAND Flash is likely derived from Saifun. However, there is a problem: in 2006, Qimonda had already ceased development of NAND Flash devices based on Saifun’s licensed NROM technology, with a spokesperson stating that this was a result of a sluggish market.
Ten years later, has Spansion made any innovations or improvements in NAND Flash technology leveraging Saifun? Additionally, since Spansion has a technical collaboration with SMIC, how will they handle their relationship with Wuhan Xinxin? While we look forward to the growth of China’s flash memory chip manufacturing industry, we also need to find answers to some questions.
Does anyone in the industry have insights to share? (Shan Yu / Text)
The above content is sourced from: WeChat public account datachina
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