What is "new infrastructure"? Recently, the storage chip industry has been bustling with activity. The three Korean storage giants—Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron—have made a decision: they plan to discontinue DDR4 production within the year, focusing entirely on DDR5 and HBM production.
Industry experts believe the direct reason is that in the DDR4 market, they've encountered a group of "price butchers"—Chinese storage companies.
However, in reality, price wars have occasionally erupted between Chinese and Korean manufacturers over the years. This time, the three giants' decision to exit the market is not only due to price wars initiated by Chinese manufacturers but fundamentally because of the rapid development of domestic storage chips. They hope to maintain their advantageous position in high-end storage chips.
It's worth noting that before 2017, China had no DRAM or NAND chip production capabilities and relied entirely on imports.
It wasn't until 2017 that Yangtze Memory Technologies introduced China's first NAND flash memory chip, and CXMT (Changxin Memory Technologies) released China's first DRAM chip. The development has only been ongoing for seven to eight years.
On November 28, 2023, CXMT launched its first domestic high-end DRAM product—the LPDDR5 series. In comparison, SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron have been established in this field for decades.
Despite differences in production capacity and technology, China's storage chip development has been rapid:
2020: China's domestic storage chip industry was in a rapid development and capacity-building phase. Companies like Yangtze Memory and CXMT continued to invest in R&D and expand production capacity, with the market size gradually increasing.
2021: The global storage chip market was at the peak of the previous cycle. China accounted for nearly 28% of the global semiconductor market size, reaching $150 billion.
2022: According to China Business Intelligence Network data, China's storage chip market size was approximately 517 billion yuan, down 5.9% year-on-year. This year, the storage chip industry entered a downward cycle due to factors such as weak demand in the consumer electronics market.
2023: China's storage chip market reached 259.1 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 20.38% over the past five years.
2024: China's storage chip market was particularly strong, with a size of $27.65 billion and a high annual growth rate of 12.4%.
Additionally, recent major news on February 24 reported that Korean media ZDNet Korea exclusively reported that Samsung Electronics recently signed a 3D NAND "hybrid bonding" patent licensing agreement with Yangtze Memory Technologies, planning to use it in the development of next-generation (V10) flash memory chips.
Yangtze Memory's 3D NAND "hybrid bonding" technology, known as "Xtacking," has reached international standards and is one of the world's three most advanced high-end chip packaging technologies. After comprehensive consideration of costs and various technologies, Samsung ultimately chose to obtain patent licensing from Yangtze Memory, proving Yangtze Memory's capabilities.
The signing of this patent agreement will greatly encourage China's domestic storage chip industry chain. For many years, China has relied heavily on South Korea in the storage chip market. With the continuous development of technologies such as chiplet and AI chips, Chinese domestic storage chips will undoubtedly rise.
Previously, foreign media stated that Chinese storage chip manufacturers can already meet one-third of China's storage chip demand. By 2026, China will achieve a self-sufficiency rate of around 50% in storage chips.
As veteran tech blogger "Meng Shu Talks Tech" said, when Yangtze Memory's chips are installed in the iPhone 15, when CXMT memory supports domestic AI servers, the world finally realizes—in this storage revolution, China is not only a participant but is becoming a shaper of the rules.
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