On March 2, TheElec's latest revelation said that Huawei is preparing to package its own PURCHASed NAND flash memory.
Source: TheElec
Chip Master has reported that HW updates IGBT, chip packaging and other technical patents, and there are already signs that in addition to the assisted driving systems, car cameras and vehicle drive chips that have been exposed, Huawei is working on downstream links such as discrete devices and chip packaging.
TheElec quoted sources as saying that Huawei is planning to directly purchase NAND flash wafers and handle packaging and testing work on its own, while previously, Huawei's large amount of NAND flash memory used in smart phones and other products was directly purchased and packaged finished products.
He added that Huawei is installing the necessary equipment for chip packaging and testing, which may be put into use as early as the second half of this year, and the current large number of NAND flash memory chips purchased comes from Yangtze River Storage. According to Omdia, the global market share of Yangtze River Storage has risen to 2.5% from 1% in 2020.
Figure: Huawei applied for a packaging patent
If the revelations come true, it means that Huawei is building a chip (die, bare chip) level packaging and testing production line.
According to public information and Huawei's product line, Huawei's own packaging technology has involved PCB and board level, which does not involve die cutting, and involves a certain degree of IC substrate technology, such as digital power supply.
On the whole, IC packaging and testing belong to the chip manufacturing chain with low technical difficulty, large manpower investment and small value-added links, and are also the areas where domestic enterprises occupy the market (non-advanced packaging). At the same time, in recent years, domestic investment in NAND and DRAM fabs has made it possible for manufacturers to purchase storage wafers that are not easily controlled to achieve self-packaging.
Figure: Huawei's domestically produced Mate40E
In the past dismantling of Huawei's mobile phones, there were two main parts of the chip that did not have localization on the motherboard: the RF part from Qualcomm, Skyworks and Qorvo, and the storage part from Samsung, Hynix and Micron - NAND and DRAM.
At present, the mass production and product performance of Yangtze River Storage and Hefei Changxin have enabled Huawei to have a mature backup supply source in the storage field, which can either directly purchase a single chip/module or take the form of self-packaging to complete the replacement.
We will see how it will be achieved.