As we all know, Apple's requirements for component suppliers are very demanding, before the selection of suppliers, will be a long-term evaluation, the dimensions of the examination usually include the performance of components, quality, yield, production capacity and so on. Enough "picky" vision to provide a guarantee for the comprehensive experience of Apple products.
And falling on the core components of the chip, which is related to the overall performance, Apple's choice is even more cautious. This field has long lacked the name of a Chinese manufacturer. But since this year, the situation has not been the same.
The first domestic memory chip in the iPhone
Taiwan's Electronic Times (DigiTimes) quoted supply chain news as reporting that Unigroup's Yangtze River Storage (YMTC) officially entered the iPhone flash supply chain this year and is expected to start shopping in May, which is expected to supply the iPhone 14 series in the second half of this year.
This is the first time that a Flash memory chip from a Chinese manufacturer has appeared in Apple's mobile phone. The flash memory suppliers of the iPhone are all leaders in the field, such as Samsung, such as Micron, SK Hynix, and Armor Man (formerly Toshiba Storage).
Jeff Pu, an analyst at Haitong International Securities, expects that Yangtze River Storage will provide about 5% of the memory chips for the iPhone SE and 3-5% of the memory chips for the iPhone 14.
According to industry news, The Yangtze River storage sent samples for Apple to verify, at least for more than half a year. The six-month assessment process shows the high requirements of Apple, and it can also be seen that Yangtze River Storage is stored in the efforts to improve product performance.
From Apple's point of view, this move is also the implementation of supplier diversification strategies, which helps to deal with supply chain risks, especially in flash memory, an industry that is extremely sensitive to production risks and supply and demand. Power outages, pollution, tight supply, etc., may lead to an increase in the price of flash memory, and small partners who pay attention to computer installation may have a deep understanding of this.
For example, in February this year, Because the flash memory factory was polluted, the factory was stopped, and a large number of wafers were scrapped, resulting in a result that was unsustainable: the price increase! And because of the price increase of Western Digital, Micron also announced the price increase. Apple's one more brand choice can offset some of the supply risks.
This small step, from scratch
Changjiang Storage fills not only the gap in the iPhone memory chip of Chinese manufacturers, but also the gap in the entire Chinese flash memory field.
Born from Wuhan Xinxin, Yangtze River Storage is one of the first batch of key integrated circuit production enterprises recognized by the state. In 2006, the Hubei Provincial Government, the Wuhan Municipal Government and the Wuhan East Lake Development Zone jointly invested more than 10 billion yuan to establish the Wuhan Xinxin Integrated Circuit Manufacturing Company. Wuhan Xinxin's first major customer was Feisuo Semiconductor, which was formed by the merger of AMD and Fujitsu's flash memory divisions. Wuhan Xinxin and Feisuo Semiconductor began to jointly develop 3D NAND flash memory technology and manufacture flash memory chips for them.
However, due to the lack of core technology, Wuhan Xinxin started hard, the technical level stayed at the 65nm stage, and at this time, the NAND flash memory leader Samsung, the main product has come to the more precise 42nm and 51nm processes, and gradually advanced to 32nm. In addition to the backward process, the production capacity of Wuhan Xinxin is not ideal, and it can only barely survive.
In 2008, the global financial crisis broke out, and the performance of Feisuo Semiconductor, the largest customer, declined all the way. Zipline orders plummeted, and Wuhan Xinxin was in a difficult situation, almost reaching the end of the road and forced to seek a sale. Wuhan Xinxin's potential joint venture targets include industry giants such as Micron, TSMC, and Howey.
At this time, the domestic industry unanimously called for the preservation of Wuhan Xinxin and the "single seedling" of Chinese mainland memory companies. In the end, the Wuhan municipal government decided to abandon the joint venture and grit its teeth and insist.
During this period, the state has raised its awareness of the development of the integrated circuit industry. In 2011, the National Development Commission Document No. 4 was issued to encourage the development of the software industry and the integrated circuit industry. According to reports, the leaders of Hubei Province and Wuhan City have held a meeting for several hours, and finally reached an agreement that Hubei Wuhan should carry the banner of memory chips in the process of the development of the country's semiconductor industry.
Two years later, Wuhan Xinxin ushered in a turning point in fate. In June 2014, the National Integrated Circuit Industry Development Promotion Outline was officially announced, and in September of the same year, the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund was established with a total investment scale of 138.7 billion yuan, covering all links from upstream to downstream of the industrial chain, and promoting the development of China's advanced integrated circuit industry.
In 2016, under the impetus of the National Fund, Tsinghua Unigroup merged with Wuhan Xinxin to formally establish Yangtze River Storage.
Next, Yangtze River Storage took several big steps: in October 2017, it designed and manufactured China's first 3D NAND flash memory, mass production in the third quarter of the following year; in September 2019, it achieved mass production of 64 layers of 3D NAND flash memory equipped with the self-developed Xtacking architecture; in April 2020, the trial production of 128-layer NAND chips was successful, and mass production was made in July of the following year.
In the words of Yang Shining, CEO of Yangtze River Storage, these three years have completed the road of six years of international manufacturers.
There is also a big milestone in the period. In the third quarter of 2020, Changjiang Storage won 1% of the global original NAND flash memory market. Although it is only 1%, it is enough for Yangtze River Storage to enter the top ten of the market, ranking seventh, and the top six are Samsung, Jiaoxia, Western Digital, Micron, SK Hynix and Intel.
Yangtze River Storage has not only embarked on the fast track of development, but also has a greater significance in that it fills the gap of domestic memory chips from multiple angles such as technology and patents. The technology of Yangtze River Storage comes from independent research and development and accumulation, there is no patent problem, and the technical level is hard enough.
Because of the high degree of autonomy, Huawei can also use the memory chip stored by the Yangtze River during the time of sanctions. Huawei's flagship Mate 40 series mobile phone in 2020 uses the 64-layer 3D NAND flash memory stored by Yangtze River Storage.
epilogue
For a long time, the supply chain of the iPhone has never lacked the figure of Chinese manufacturers, and the exposed news shows that in the 200 Apple supply chain in 2020, Chinese manufacturers account for 114, which is equivalent to half of the country.
However, what is thought-provoking is that Chinese manufacturers, especially those Chinese mainland, mainly supply batteries, housings, lenses, wires, antennas, PCB boards and other components, and the price is relatively low, which may only account for 30% of the material cost in total. The core components of the iPhone, especially those involving chips, are almost gone by Chinese manufacturers. It is precisely this part that occupies up to 70% of the cost.
Take a look at the schematic of iFixit's iPhone 13 Pro chip: SK Hynix memory, Skyworks front end, ST and Deyi power ICs, Murata's RF switch, Armor's flash memory... Perhaps the only place where Chinese manufacturers are present is THE ULTRA-BROADBAND and WiFi/Bluetooth modules led by USI, whose parent company is Sun Moonlight in Taiwan.
iPhone 13 Pro chip schematic (partial)
Therefore, the Yangtze River Storage that has entered Apple's supply chain, although it is only a small step, is a leap from scratch for the Chinese mainland industry that seeks chip technology autonomy.
Of course, we must also see that the Yangtze River is stored in Apple's supply chain and in the entire flash product market, and its share is still a minority, and it is not a small gap from several giants that master the forefront of the industry. A small step in Yangtze River Storage has solved the problem from scratch, and in the future, to master the core technology and rank among the forefront of the industry, whether it is Yangtze River Storage or the entire Chinese chip industry, there is still a long way to go.
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