- Samsung has signed an agreement with the Chinese YMTC to use its hybrid connection technology
- This decision will prevent breaches of offense in the production of NAND 400 layers
- American-Chinese trade tensions may also have influenced the agreement
Samsung Electronics has signed a contract with Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC) which will allow it to use the binding technology of the Chinese semiconductor company in the production of its Flash Nand 400-layer memory.
Founded in 2016 and whose headquarters are in Wuhan, China, the YMTC is a subsidiary of Tsinghua Unigroup, which is supported by the Chinese government. It focuses on Flash Nand 3D memory, a critical component in storage devices such as SSDs, smartphones and data centers, and the most famous Xtacking technology, a proprietary architecture that improves the performance and density of the Nand Flash.
According to Korea Chosunbiz The news site, Samsung probably concluded the agreement to avoid a patent dispute linked to this “hybrid bond”, which will be an essential process in the mass production of NAND 400 layers.
The American trade war a factor?
“YMTC recorded the hybrid link patent and was the first to apply relevant technology in the Flash Nand memory manufacturing process. Although YMTC considerably follows global semiconductor companies such as Samsung Electronics and Ske Hynix in terms of market sharing, it is quickly caught up in South Korean companies From 294-Elist Nand Flash Memory, “explains the site.
It is believed that the agreement will protect the two companies against the violation of patents of each other. YMTC continued Micron in an American court last year, alleging a violation of his NAND technology.
Chosunbiz Quotes an initiate of the semiconductor industry saying: “In the semiconductor memory industry, companies sign license agreements in advance to avoid patent disputes before product development and new generation manufacturing. Although these agreements are a common practice in the industry, concerns increases on the rapid narrowing of the technological gap between China and the main companies, because Samsung, the best actor on the Flash Nand memory market, now uses patents of a Chinese company. »»
analog eenews emphasizes that there could be more to the agreement than to want to avoid counterfeiting. “It can also reflect that an American-Chinese trade war may have an impact on the ability of the YMTC to sell memory components outside of China and that a license or cross-license agreement for various technologies could benefit the YMTC,” writes the site.
Chosunbiz The article does not mention SK Hynix, the southern Samsung South Korean memory rival, but it is possible – probably even – that it will also have explored or concluded similar license agreements with YMTC to secure hybrid connection technology for its own production of Nand Flash.
