China 'pumped' nearly 2 billion USD of investment into the country's largest memory chip manufacturing company

Despite a series of embargo policies from the United States, the world's second largest economy is still gradually overcoming difficulties and continues to show abundant financial resources with consecutive huge investments in industry. domestic semiconductor research and production.

The National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund - an organization under the Chinese government - has just committed 12.9 billion yuan (about 1.9 billion USD) to fund Yangtze Memory Technologies Company is also the country's largest domestic memory chip manufacturer. This investment is considered a valuable 'medicine' for not only YMTC, but also the entire Chinese semiconductor industry under increasing pressure from Washington sanctions.

YMTC is headquartered in Hubei province, and is the only domestic semiconductor company that is considered to be able to compete with the world's leading names such as Samsung or SK hynix. However, last year, the company was also placed on the US trade blacklist.

The scale of the investment shows how China is once again determined to increase budget spending for the struggling semiconductor industry, whose clear goal here is to try to overcome limitations. US regulations, while also dealing with a decline in global supply chains. The investment in YMTC is also one of the most important plans made by state-owned investment funds in recent months.

Earlier in 2022, Chinese officials launched a widespread anti-corruption campaign to overcome slow progress in developing domestic alternatives to chips produced elsewhere. The campaign resulted in the removal of several senior officials and industry executives. In addition, the Zero-COVID policy in China also led to the growth prospects of this country's semiconductor industry being seriously affected.

On the opposite side, the rise of China's semiconductor industry in the past few years has made it impossible for the United States to sit still. President Joe Biden's administration has imposed a series of export controls on processor chips from China, causing a significant impact on the country's semiconductor industry. Along with the US, the Netherlands and Japan have also agreed to limit the supply of chip manufacturing equipment to China.

Lesley Montoya

Update 04 March 2024