Whose shackles have been loosened?
Recently, the Financial Times quoted insiders as saying that the chip manufacturing equipment that Chinese DRAM chip manufacturer Changxin Storage has ordered from American manufacturers is not affected by US export controls. This news has caused extensive discussion in foreign media, and has also made people speculate about who this is loosening for?
In October last year, the United States issued strict new export control regulations, which not only clarify the restriction standards for logic chips, but also regulate DRAM and NAND for memory chips. These regulations severely restrict the access of domestic storage companies to advanced equipment. Therefore, the three major semiconductor equipment giants in the United States, Applied Materials, Lam Research Group, and Kelei, quickly took action to implement the supply cut. Since most of the current chip-making equipment relies on American companies, this move has forced Chinese storage companies Yangtze River Storage and Changxin Storage to suspend expansion plans.
However, the news has reversed in recent days. Changxin Storage has officially confirmed that the chip manufacturing equipment it orders from U.S. manufacturers is not affected by U.S. export controls. This news has attracted widespread attention, and foreign media have also asked, who is the United States loosening this time?
However, in fact, it is not the United States that is lowering the chip restriction standard, but through the clarification of the new export control regulations, the ambiguity similar to the restriction standard has been resolved. In this way, it is more conducive to the implementation of the rules by US equipment manufacturers and will not be affected by the additional impact of the new regulations. Therefore, the United States' relaxation this time is actually loosening its own equipment manufacturers, so that they can continue to ship and get more profits.
So what is the reason why Changxin Storage obtained equipment imports? Although Changxin Storage has not announced which equipment manufacturers in the United States have ordered equipment, according to recent news, we can see some clues. Lam Research said last month that after receiving clarifications from the new export control rules, it found that "hundreds of millions of dollars" of equipment that it thought was restricted could now be exported to Chinese companies. Similarly, U.S. wafer inspection equipment maker Kelei also said that they will ship more equipment to China. Therefore, Changxin Storage can continue its previously suspended expansion plan.
Of course, this does not mean that the United States has completely lifted restrictions on China, but that the United States has clarified the new export control regulations so that its equipment manufacturers can continue to ship. This news is good news for China's storage companies, and it also allows them to develop and expand and shorten the gap with foreign countries.
It should be noted that although Changxin Storage is able to obtain equipment imports, we cannot ignore Yangtze River Storage. Although there is no relevant news about Yangtze River Storage, in fact, Yangtze River Storage has reached the world-class level in technology, and even surpassed it in some aspects. Although technically ahead of Changxin Storage, YMTC still needs equipment to support the expansion plan, so we can expect similar news to come out in the near future.
To sum up, although this relaxation has brought good news to Changxin Storage, we must not forget that in fact, this relaxation is actually the United States is loosening its own equipment manufacturers to continue to obtain more profits. For China's storage companies, this news is undoubtedly a shot in the arm to enable them to continue to move forward and grow. In the near future, we may be able to see greater breakthroughs in Chinese storage companies and achieve subversion of the storage market.
【Sharp view】The United States lifted the ban, and domestic storage got out of the predicament
Recently, according to the Financial Times, the chip manufacturing equipment ordered by mainland DRAM chip manufacturer Changxin Storage from American manufacturers will not be subject to US export controls, which has aroused the attention and discussion of domestic and foreign media. However, we need to think calmly, who is this move of the US side to loosen the shackles?
Back in October last year, the United States issued strict new export control regulations, which not only restricted logic chips, but also directly restricted the import of memory chip DRAM and NAND. At that time, this provision undoubtedly constituted a major blow to domestic storage companies. As the world's two mainstream storage markets, DRAM and NAND are almost monopolized by foreign giants. In the fourth quarter of 2022, Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron together accounted for 95.8% of the DRAM market share and 96.8% of the NAND market share. Domestic storage companies are facing the challenge of monopoly situation.
However, just as domestic storage companies are trying to break the monopoly of foreign giants, the United States issued new regulations that directly restrict the export of chip manufacturing equipment. This seriously affected the expansion plans of Yangtze River Storage and Changxin Storage, which forced them to suspend the expansion.
However, recent news has brought about a reversal. Equipment ordered by Changxin Storage from U.S. manufacturers is not subject to U.S. export controls. Although Changxin Storage has not announced the specific equipment supplier, we can see some clues from the relevant news. For example, Lam Research said it received clarification from the new rules and found it was able to export more equipment to Chinese companies. In addition, US wafer inspection equipment manufacturer Kelei also said that it will ship more equipment to China.
From these news, it can be inferred that the United States did not reduce the chip restriction standard, but clarified the new regulations. This clarification allows U.S. equipment manufacturers to better enforce the rules and avoid the additional impact of the new rules. Although domestic storage companies can continue to expand their plans, this is not because of the reduction of US rules, but because US equipment manufacturers can ship more equipment and make more profits. In fact, this move of the US side loosened their own restraints.
Of course, we cannot ignore that this news is undoubtedly good news for domestic storage companies. Domestic storage companies are planning to introduce more domestic equipment and reduce dependence on foreign equipment. Changxin Storage has increased capital expenditures by $5 billion to test local equipment. Although there is no relevant news at present, the technical level of Yangtze River Storage has reached the world's first-class, and even surpassed in some aspects. Being able to import more foreign equipment will provide strong support for the development and growth of domestic storage enterprises.
Therefore, although we are dissatisfied and regret this move by the US side, we cannot underestimate the strength and potential of mainland storage enterprises. Domestic storage enterprises are actively breaking through the foreign monopoly situation and gradually moving to the world stage. With the continuous development of enterprises such as Changjiang Storage and Changxin Storage, the share of the domestic storage market will be further increased.
【About author】Brother Qiang, a Chinese self-media creator, focuses on analyzing current hot science and technology topics and attracting readers with sharp views. Articles published on platforms such as Toutiao and Baijiahao have attracted much attention and discussion.
