According to a previous report from Bloomberg, Chinese 3D NAND Flash giant YMTC recently filed a lawsuit against American memory giant Micron in California, accusing Micron of infringing on 11 of its patents related to 3D NAND Flash and DRAM products. YMTC is requesting the court to order Micron to stop selling the infringing memory products in the United States and to pay patent royalties.

Established at the end of 2016 in Wuhan, YMTC is a major Chinese manufacturer of memory (DRAM) and flash memory (NAND Flash), supported by significant investments from the “Big Fund.” It has become a representative enterprise in China’s effort to build a local chip supply chain. However, in October 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce added YMTC to the Entity List, preventing it from obtaining advanced equipment from U.S. companies to manufacture 3D NAND chips with 128 layers or more.

Before facing U.S. export controls, YMTC’s 128-layer 3D NAND chip products had already entered Apple’s supply chain and received technical and quality certification from Apple. At that time, Apple reportedly hoped to use YMTC’s chips not only for cost considerations but also to prevent flash memory from being overly concentrated in the hands of Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron.

The report from Tom’s hardware states that YMTC’s current allegations assert that Micron’s 96-layer (B27A), 128-layer (B37R), 176-layer (B47R), and 232-layer (B58R) 3D NAND Flash products, as well as some DDR5 SDRAM products (Y2BM series), infringe on 11 of YMTC’s patents or patent applications filed in the United States.

Notably, last November, YMTC also filed a lawsuit against Micron and its subsidiaries in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accusing them of infringing on eight U.S. patents related to 3D NAND Flash. Additionally, per a report from South China Morning Post on June 7th of this year, YMTC filed a lawsuit in California, accusing the Denmark-based consulting firm Strand Consult, funded by Micron, of spreading false information that damaged YMTC’s market reputation and business relationships.

Industry sources cited by the Commercial Times also note that in recent years, China’s technological capabilities have significantly improved, and companies have been actively applying for patents domestically and internationally. With the support of the Chinese government, they have also started to frequently engage in patent litigation. Last year, Chinese courts received 5,062 technical intellectual property and monopoly cases.

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(Photo credit: YMTC)

According to TrendForce’s latest memory spot price trend report, DRAM spot prices have finally stabilized as Samsung is committed to propping them up. Spot prices of DDR4 products, in particular, continue the momentum. As for NAND flash, demand for a small extent of inventory replenishment remains possible for 3Q24, which may help the sales performance from the spot market to improve from that of 2Q24. Details are as follows:

DRAM Spot Price:

DRAM spot prices, which had experienced a long period of decline, have finally stabilized as Samsung is committed to propping them up. Spot prices of DDR4 products, in particular, have risen slightly. Additionally, since spot prices are currently lower than contract prices for both DDR4 and DDR5 products, module houses and other buyers prefer spot trading. This, in turn, has helped stabilize spot prices. The average spot price of mainstream chips (i.e., DDR4 1Gx8 2666MT/s) has increased by 0.81% from US$1.979 last week to US$1.995 this week.

NAND Flash Spot Price:

Spot prices have started to stabilize recently as a result of reluctance in truncation from spot traders and module houses, as well as the consideration on how the growth of demand has been exceedingly confined by the drop of prices. Demand for a small extent of inventory replenishment remains possible for 3Q24, when sales performance from the spot market is expected to improve from that of 2Q24. On the whole, spot prices would first maintain equilibrium whilst awaiting for the final development of suppliers’ contract prices and the market status for 3Q24, before deciding on subsequent actions. Spot prices of 512Gb TLC wafers have dropped by 0.58% this week, arriving at US$3.272.

As Samsung actively expands its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) capabilities, it is also striving to enhance the penetration rate of its existing memory products in mobile devices such as smartphones. On July 16, Samsung announced that it has completed verification of its latest LPDDR5X DRAM, which can be paired with MediaTek’s next-generation smartphone chips.

Since MediaTek has yet to release its next-generation 5G flagship chip, the Dimensity 9400, Samsung’s announcement has drawn greater attention to the upcoming release date of the Dimensity 9400.

Samsung’s LPDDR5X DRAM boasts a 25% performance improvement over the previous generation, with increased execution speed, and will be compatible with the Dimensity 9400 chip set to be released in the fourth quarter. Industry sources cited by Economic Daily News further note that this means smartphone brands that choose the Dimensity 9400 as their main chip can also opt for Samsung’s LPDDR5X DRAM as the mobile memory solution for their new devices.

Samsung’s latest LPDDR5X DRAM claims to extend the battery life of mobile devices and enhance the speed of AI functions within the device, such as voice-to-text generation, without the need for server or cloud access.

According per another report by the Korea Economic Daily, JC Hsu, General Manager of MediaTek’s Wireless Communication Business Unit, stated that Samsung’s LPDDR5X DRAM, with an execution speed of up to 10.7 Gbps, will leverage more AI capabilities and performance of MediaTek’s upcoming products.

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(Photo credit: Samsung)

Chul Joo Hwang, Chairman of South Korean semiconductor equipment company Jusung Engineering, recently stated that future semiconductors will stack transistors together, as the expansion of DRAM and logic chips has reached its limit. Stacking transistors like NAND is necessary to overcome these challenges.

According to a report from South Korean media outlet The Elec, Hwang believes this means developing more atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology to reduce the use of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography steps in the production process of advanced chips.

ALD technology is a thin film process that allows materials to grow layer by layer, offering high uniformity, precise thickness control, and excellent step coverage, overcoming challenges faced by traditional process technologies.

Reportedly, stacking transistors can reduce the need for further scaling of transistors. As evidence, deep ultraviolet (DUV) equipment is expected to be used in 3D DRAM production.

Hwang believes that as stacking becomes increasingly important, the demand for ALD equipment will also rise. Additionally, the production of III-V semiconductors and IGZO semiconductors requires ALD equipment.

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(Photo credit: Jusung Engineering)

According to TrendForce’s latest memory spot price trend report, prices of DDR4 chips have risen noticeably. Though inventory levels are still high for DDR4, buyers prefer DDR4 over DDR5 due to the price discount. On the other hand, the NAND Flash spot market remains lethargic in transactions. Details are as follows:

DRAM Spot Price:

Recent developments in the spot market show that prices of DDR4 chips have risen noticeably. Even though inventory levels are still high for DDR4 products at this moment, buyers prefer DDR4 over DDR5 due to the price discount. Moreover, DRAM suppliers intend to stabilize spot prices of DDR4 products and halt the ongoing decline. Hence, there has been an improvement with respect to the price trend. Nevertheless, further monitoring of inventory levels is necessary in order to determine whether this rally will continue for a longer while. The average spot price of mainstream chips (i.e., DDR4 1Gx8 2666MT/s) has risen by 2.92% from US$1.918 last week to US$1.974 this week.

NAND Flash Spot Price:

The NAND Flash spot market remains lethargic in transactions, and various products are starting to experience a drop in prices after the mainstream 512Gb TLC wafer dipped below the US$3 threshold last week. With that said, buyers are still showing hesitation towards price inquiries despite slowed down decrement of spot prices, thus leaving no room for optimism on transactions. 512Gb TLC wafer spots remain unchanged in prices this week at US$3.291.