The Chinese startup Numemory, which operates in the space of the semiconductor industry, presented the largest-capacity memory chip in its category, which was developed and manufactured in mainland China.
The mentioned company also stated that its new microcircuit is a breakthrough. In the relevant context, the startup noted that its new product strengthens China’s efforts to ensure technological sovereignty against the background of harsh sanctions from the United States government regarding the possibility of supplying advanced chips and equipment for the production of microcircuits of the appropriate category to the Asian country.
Numemory, formally known as Xincun Technology (Wuhan) Co, presented its 64-gigabyte NM101, a type of storage-class memory (SCM) chip, on the domestic market. Chinese media have already made very ambitious statements, according to which the new microcircuit will destroy the long-term monopoly of international giants in the relevant industry. It is also worth noting that in this case, journalists published a minimum of information about the characteristics of the new chip.
Chinese media have underlined that similar microcircuits available on the market offer capacity in megabytes only. Journalists also focus on the potential of this chip to reduce the dependence of the Asian country on foreign memory technologies. For Beijing, the relevant perspective is, in a certain sense, critical and, to a large extent, vital in the context of the current state of affairs in the space of geopolitical relations. It is worth noting that cooperation between China and the United States, including in the economic sector and the manufacturing area, is not only deteriorating but also shows no signs of improvement in the foreseeable future.
The chip industry is gradually becoming a kind of space of geopolitical rivalry. This is a logical tendency since microcircuits are a basic element in many products and are necessary to ensure the operation of advanced technological systems. Chips are used, for example, in smartphones and personal computers. Microcircuits have also already become an integral component of vehicle equipment. Separately, it is worth paying attention to artificial intelligence chips. These products of the semiconductor industry are used for training and ensuring the process of subsequent functioning of machine intelligence systems. Also, the corresponding chips are needed for the operation apps of artificial intelligence. In this context, it is worth noting that AI is actually the main technology at the current stage of what can be described as the process of material and applied development of human civilization. Artificial intelligence has already largely realized in the practical space the potential for high-quality modernization of many workflows. Moreover, AI can become a new means of production in several spheres of activity. In the long term, this means that artificial intelligence may at some point become a source of economic transformation, both in terms of quantitative indicators and within the framework of fundamental changes, implying a kind of deep conversion of the initial basis. There is also a possibility that AI will be able to evolve on its own. The realization of an appropriate perspective may lead to the fact that artificial intelligence will become an independent, alternative form of mind existing in the virtual dimension regarding human consciousness. It is worth noting that some experts expect AI to surpass humans in terms of cognitive abilities. One of the proponents of this point of view is, for example, SoftBank chief executive officer Masayoshi Son. Artificial intelligence can make progress in understanding the world as a matter of global being, which is not limited only to the space of existence of human civilization. The basic material element, without which it is impossible to realize the corresponding impressive prospects, is precisely the chips.
In the context of the current condition of technological progress and the scale of its impact on economic processes and appropriate long-term perspectives, a country’s access to microcircuits and manufacturing of corresponding products will very soon determine its competitiveness and even, in a sense, viability in the international arena. From a certain point of view, chips can be described as a new oil in the age of high technology. For this reason, the country’s ability to independently develop and manufacture microcircuits is critically important. Also, the experience of the coronavirus pandemic has testified to the importance of technological sovereignty. At that time, due to restrictions related to the difficult sanitary and epidemiological situation, global supply chains were disrupted, which are extremely important for many processes, including production. The current increase in geopolitical tensions signals that some countries may lose a significant part of their potential if the situation in the area of international affairs remains on a trajectory of consistent deterioration. For China, the relevant reality in the economic sense, the industrial context, and the political aspect is particularly relevant and sensitive. Beijing is making efforts to develop the domestic technology sector amid restrictions from Washington and some of its allies.
SCM is a memory and storage technology that combines features found in both dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and traditional NAND flash storage. Chips of the corresponding category are used in smartphones and several other products belonging to the consumer electronics category. SCM, sometimes called Persistent Memory, offers fast non-volatile memory to processors that operate in servers and storage systems in data centers.
According to information released by Chinese media, hard drives equipped with an SCM chip take only a second to store a 10GB high-definition film.
Numemory was founded in July 2022. The startup is based in Wuhan, the capital of the central Chinese province of Hubei. Numemory stated that solid-state drives built with SCM technology can offer data centers and cloud computing service providers a storage solution with large capacity, high density, high bandwidth, and low latency.
The presentation of NM101, which is a resonant and landmark event, indicates that a startup operating in mainland China can push advances in technology, despite some kind of opposition in the form of measures from the United States aimed at limiting the capabilities of the semiconductor industry of the Asian country.
Numemory said its new chip is the result of years of independent and autonomous research and development. In the past, 3D XPoint was one of the most significant chips in the SCM sector. This product was jointly developed by teams of Intel and Micron Technology specialists. The 3D XPoint production process was stopped in 2022.
It is also worth noting that this year the Chinese flash memory giant Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp (YMTC) has made significant progress in chip design architecture called Xtacking4.0. This product has become what can be described as an objective element of material technological reality, as a result of the mentioned company’s close cooperation with domestic tool suppliers for the production of microcircuits. The relevant information is contained in the report, which was published by the Canadian research company TechInsights. This report also notes that YMTC’s 512GB triple-level cell memory chip that adopted the new architecture was found inside a solid-state drive of ZhiTai TiPlus, a consumer brand of the Chinese firm.
YMTC states that there is currently a sharp increase in demand for its products belonging to the category of flash memory. The company notes that the corresponding demand is especially typical for Chinese enterprises that work on government and military projects. In this context, it will be relevant to mention that policymakers in Washington justify restrictive measures regarding the supply of chips and equipment for the production of microcircuits for national security reasons. They fear that Beijing may use the chips to strengthen its military capabilities.
Also last month, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reported that two lithography machines produced in the Asian country had achieved significant success. In this case, it means equipment for making chips. At the same time, some analysts said that the mentioned lithographic machines are still not capable of producing advanced microcircuits.
One of the lithography scanners is equipped with a krypton-fluoride (KrF) light source with a 248-nanometer wavelength and an overlay accuracy below 25nm. In this case, provided a resolution of 110 nm on 12-inch wafers. Another lithography scanner uses a more advanced argon fluoride (ArF) light source with a 193 nm wavelength and an overlay accuracy below 8nm. In this case, there is a resolution of 65 nm that is provided on 12-inch wafers.
Currently, China’s progress in the semiconductor industry is a concept that can be described as a prospect rather than an accomplished fact of reality. Beijing, realizing the importance of chips, including in the context of the country’s large-scale potential as a participant in the international space in the functional sense of the corresponding definition and in the political context, is making efforts to develop homegrown area-making microcircuits. At the same time, limited access to foreign technologies is a deterrent to the mentioned efforts. For example, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which is currently the world’s largest contract maker of chips, presented its 3-nanometer process technology in 2022. At the same time, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) tests its 5-nanometer technological process. This does not mean that China is basically unable to make progress in the semiconductor industry. Perhaps, over time, Beijing will eliminate the corresponding backlog, but in this case, it is only an assumption, not a guaranteed scenario.
