According to a report from DigiTimes, leading Chinese NAND flash manufacturer Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) is struggling to hit its planned production goals for its all-new 128-layer 3D NAND. The company originally planned to reach a monthly production rate of 100,000 wafers by the end of 2021. However, due to unexpectedly low yield rates for its 128-layer NAND, the company reportedly doesn't expect to hit its production targets until 2022.
YMTC also faces other headwinds as it looks to scale production of its existing nodes — US trade restrictions on semiconductor manufacturing equipment are impacting the company's ability to increase its output. Due to these restrictions, YMTC can't source enough equipment to manufacture flash in large enough volumes to meet its goal of 100,000 WSPM (wafer starts per month) this year.
Luckily the delays should be relatively short, YMTC expects to be on target with at least 100,000 WSPM by 2022. Once that goal is achieved, the company wants to scale to a total output of 300,000 wafers per month.
This delay will most likely only impact phone and SSD manufacturer's in China, as YMTC is typically used in-country by Chinese phone makers and SSD manufacturers.
