title: "YMTC hits China’s local-equipment benchmark in Wuhan, opening the door for" more memory fabs excerpt: "YMTC’s Phase 3 Wuhan plant is expected to start later this year with over" half its tools sourced in China, a major step for its NAND and DRAM ambitions. category: esports date: '2026-04-16T00:01:54+08:00' author: Aimirul tags:
- YMTC
- 3D NAND
- DRAM
- China
- Semiconductors featured: false coverImage: /images/esports/ymtc-hits-china-s-local-equipment-benchmark-in-wuhan-opening-the-door-for-more-memory-fabs.jpg
China’s memory champion YMTC is reportedly close to a pretty big milestone, and it matters more than it sounds if you care about SSDs, gaming phones, AI hardware, or the wider chip supply chain.
According to Reuters, cited by Tom’s Hardware, YMTC is expected to begin operating its Phase 3 fab in Wuhan later this year. The big deal is not just the new plant itself, but the fact that it is understood to be the first leading-edge memory fab in China built to satisfy Beijing’s unofficial requirement that at least 50% of new fab equipment must come from domestic suppliers.
Three sources familiar with the plan told Reuters that more than half of the tooling in Phase 3 has been sourced from inside China. The same report says YMTC wants to build two more fabs of similar scale after that, though those projects do not yet have confirmed timelines or locations.
Phase 3 alone is expected to reach 50,000 wafers per month by 2027 and 100,000 wafers per month at full output. For context, YMTC’s first two Wuhan fabs currently combine for around 200,000 wafers per month.
Why this matters
The bigger story here is China’s push to build advanced chip plants with fewer foreign dependencies. Since late December, authorities have reportedly been turning away new fab applications unless companies can show, through procurement plans, that at least half their tools are Chinese-made. Officials have also reportedly treated that 50% mark as a floor, not the finish line.
YMTC appears to be the first memory player to clear that hurdle because 3D NAND happens to fit China’s current equipment strengths better than logic chips do. In simple terms, modern NAND scaling depends less on bleeding-edge lithography and more on deep etching, deposition, and wafer bonding. Those are areas where Chinese suppliers have made more progress.
That is where companies like AMEC and Naura come in. AMEC has been developing high-aspect-ratio etch tools for years, while Naura is already supplying etching gear for chips with more than 300 layers. Tom’s Hardware notes that Chinese suppliers are also making gains in cleaning and photoresist-removal systems, with analysts estimating roughly 50% self-sufficiency in those segments.
The weak spot is still lithography
This does not mean YMTC is fully insulated. Lithography remains the obvious problem. The company still relies on imported DUV tools, and US lawmakers are now pushing the MATCH Act, which would tighten export controls even further and pressure allies like the Netherlands and Japan to align within 150 days.
If that bill moves forward in something close to its current form, keeping existing foreign tools running could get harder over time. That would make Phase 3 even more important as a test case for whether China’s domestic toolchain can support large-scale production without tanking yields.
There is also a second angle here: DRAM. Part of YMTC’s future fab capacity is expected to go toward DRAM instead of NAND, depending on how its low-power DRAM samples perform with customers. Reuters says Phase 3 has been set aside with 50% of its capacity for DRAM. On top of that, Wuhan Xinxin Semiconductor Manufacturing, which YMTC controls, has reportedly been building HBM-related packaging capability using hybrid bonding and other in-house know-how.
That is worth watching because it hints YMTC is not just trying to sell more flash storage. It is trying to build a broader memory stack, including future DRAM and potentially HBM-related capability.
Why Malaysia and SEA readers should care
For Malaysia and the wider SEA market, this is one of those supply-chain stories that can eventually show up in very real places: SSD pricing, gaming laptops, handhelds, phones, AI servers, and even data centre costs. More memory capacity usually means more competition, but tighter export controls can pull the other way and create fresh pricing pressure.
So yes, this is factory news, but not the boring kind. If YMTC can actually ramp Phase 3 with mostly Chinese tools and hold production yields at scale, it could reshape how fast China builds its next wave of NAND and DRAM capacity. If it stumbles, the two follow-up fabs may stay on the drawing board longer.
Source: Tom's Hardware
