China's Domestic Storage Chips: Astonishing Catch-Up Pace – 1-Year NAND, 2-Year DRAM, 3-Year HBM Tech Gap

The technological gap in China's storage chip sector is narrowing rapidly, and the South Korean side assesses that the remaining gap is 1 to 3 years.

The latest assessment from the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association shows that the technology gap between Chinese memory chip manufacturers and leading global players is narrowing rapidly. Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) lags by only around 1 year in NAND flash; ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) lags by about 2 years in DRAM and roughly 3 years in HBM. Not long ago, this gap was widely estimated to be around 5 years.

The Korea JoongAng Daily cited statements from the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association that:

"The technology gap between South Korea and China in the memory chip sector has shrunk to 3 years in the HBM field, 2 years in the DRAM field, and 1 year in the NAND flash field."

The most surprising part of this change is the scale and speed at which China's semiconductor industry is catching up.

NAND: Yangtze Memory Technologies is Expected to Reduce the Gap to Around 1 Year

Samsung and SK Hynix began producing 300-layer NAND flash in 2025, when Yangtze Memory Technologies was manufacturing 270-layer NAND. By 2027, Yangtze Memory Technologies is expected to shift to 400-layer NAND, at which point the gap between it and Samsung, SK Hynix may shrink to only around 1 year.

DRAM: ChangXin Memory Technologies Lags by Around 2 Years

Samsung and SK Hynix started producing DDR5 memory in 2023, while ChangXin Memory Technologies did not launch DDR5 memory modules until 2025, a difference of roughly two years. However, ChangXin Memory Technologies has already begun mass production of LPDDR5X and has just started manufacturing LPDDR6.

HBM: ChangXin Memory Technologies Lags by Around 3 Years

In the HBM segment, ChangXin Memory Technologies currently lags by roughly 3 years. It has just launched trial production of HBM3E modules, but the yield rate is only around 25%. This DRAM manufacturer is still working to overcome the through-silicon via (TSV) technology used for vertical connection of memory stacks.

It is reported that when building HBM3E stacks on its G4 process, ChangXin Memory Technologies drew inspiration from Yangtze Memory Technologies' X-Stacking 3D NAND solution. This solution does not fully rely on traditional micro-bumps to connect stacked DRAM chips, but uses copper-copper hybrid bonding technology to merge copper interconnects between wafers, thereby shortening the circuit path between stacked DRAM layers. The key point is that this architecture allows ChangXin Memory Technologies and Yangtze Memory Technologies to produce competitive HBM architectures without relying on extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment.

ChangXin Memory Technologies is expected to receive some domestically produced DUV lithography equipment from manufacturers such as Shanghai Aisignature and Yuliangsheng (transliteration) this year. However, these DUV equipment manufacturers are still facing bottlenecks, especially in projection lenses and light sources.

Capacity Expansion: ChangXin Memory Technologies Has Aggressive Targets

ChangXin Memory Technologies is actively expanding its production capacity. The company plans to achieve a monthly capacity of 300,000 wafers through three 300mm DRAM fabs by the end of 2026, with each fab delivering a monthly capacity of around 100,000 wafers. In addition, its HBM wafer capacity is expected to reach approximately 50,000 wafers per month by the end of 2026.

ChangXin Memory Technologies is currently constructing two new fabs in Shanghai and Hefei. Once these plants are put into operation, its monthly capacity will rise to 600,000 wafers. In fact, ChangXin Memory Technologies is expected to surpass Micron in mass production scale before 2030.

Technical Route: HKMG and More Advanced Nodes

To overcome the limitations of process scaling, ChangXin Memory Technologies is apparently using High-K Metal Gate (HKMG) technology. This technology replaces old silicon-based insulators with materials such as hafnium oxide (HfO₂), which not only suppresses current leakage and related thermal energy waste, but also improves energy efficiency and paves the way for higher speeds — as transistors can switch states faster than when using polysilicon gates.

Given that ChangXin Memory Technologies has applied this technology to its G4 DRAM manufacturing process (which is widely believed to adopt the 1z node) and LPDDR5X products, it is reasonable to infer that the company is about to shift to the more advanced 1a node. This possibility is even higher considering that ChangXin Memory Technologies is already developing the next-generation 15nm G5 DRAM manufacturing process.

Yangtze Memory Technologies Capacity Outlook

As for Yangtze Memory Technologies, its capacity is expected to reach 300,000 wafers per month by early 2027, part of which will be used for LPDDR production. After Yangtze Memory Technologies' two new fabs are put into operation in 2027, its total capacity will grow to 450,000 to 500,000 wafers per month by 2028. In comparison, Samsung's NAND capacity is expected to be 350,000 wafers per month by the end of 2027.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Tech Business", and is authorized for release by 36Kr.