According to foreign media reports, after Samsung, a major memory chip manufacturer, obtained an "indefinite exemption" from the US government for its factories in China, Samsung's factories in China will be able to import US chip equipment to upgrade or expand production without applying for a special license. According to the report,After obtaining the exemption, Samsung executives have decided to upgrade their NAND Flash flash memory factory in Xi'an, China, to 236-layer stacking technology and are preparing to start large-scale production expansion.

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The report quoted sources as saying that Samsung has begun to reserve and purchase the latest semiconductor equipment for the next process conversion.

It is expected that the new equipment will be delivered by the end of 2023, and technology that can produce Samsung's 8th generation V-NAND will be gradually introduced in the Xi'an factory in 2024. The number of stacking layers will reach 236, a 34% increase compared to the 176 layers of its 7th generation V-NAND.

This is also regarded by the industry as a response plan to the current weak global demand for NAND Flash memory, which has led to a decrease in production capacity.

According to public data, Samsung China Semiconductor Co., Ltd. settled in China’s Xi’an High-tech Zone in 2012.

Among them, Samsung Semiconductor’s Xi’an factory is the company’s only overseas memory semiconductor production base. It began operations in 2014 and added a second factory in 2020.It mainly produces 128-layer stacked NAND Flash flash memory, with a monthly production capacity of 200,000 12-inch wafers, accounting for more than 40% of Samsung's total NAND Flash production.

Data shows that Samsung has memory chip factories in Xi'an and Suzhou in mainland China.

Among them, the Xi'an factory is Samsung's largest investment project in China, mainly manufacturing 3D NAND flash memory chips. The first phase of the Samsung China Xi'an factory invested US$10.87 billion. Starting in 2017, Samsung began to carry out the second phase of the project, with a total investment of US$15 billion in the two phases.

Currently, the monthly production capacity of Samsung's Xi'an factory will reach 265,000 12-inch wafers, accounting for 42% of Samsung's total global NAND flash memory chip production.

In 2022, the output value of Samsung Semiconductor's Xi'an factory will exceed 100 billion yuan.