Tsinghua Unigroup sees breakthrough in flash memory output

Chinese chip major Tsinghua Unigroup said it has kicked off volume production of high-end 64-layer flash memory chips, marking a breakthrough in the country's efforts to grow its homegrown semiconductor sector and shorten its technological gap with foreign counterparts, analysts said on Tuesday.

Yangtze Memory Technologies Co Ltd, a chip manufacturer in which Tsinghua Unigroup is a controlling shareholder, said it has started volume production of 64-layer 3D NAND chips, a type of high-end non-volatile memory chip that can store data without using power.

Memory chips are widely used in high-end data storage products on electronic devices such as smartphones, personal computers and data servers. China, despite being one of the world's largest manufacturing powerhouses for electronic devices, relies mostly on foreign companies to obtain high-end flash memory chips.