韩媒：三星将在西安投产200+层 NAND
据韩国媒体businesskorea透露，三星电子决定在其位于中国西安的 NAND 闪存工厂过渡到 200 层 NAND 工艺。生产属于第8代NAND的236层产品。据介绍，他们的这个举措被视为克服全球NAND需求低迷导致性能下降的战略步骤。
据业内消息人士 10 月 15 日透露，三星高管已批准其西安工厂的 NAND 工艺升级，并已开始广泛的扩张工作。三星已开始为这一转型采购最新的半导体设备，新机器预计将在今年年底交付。
三星电子西安工厂是该公司唯一的海外存储半导体生产基地。自2014年建成以来，西安工厂于2020年扩建了第二家工厂，现已发展成为全球最大的NAND制造基地，每月可生产20万片12英寸晶圆。它占三星 NAND 总产量的 40% 以上。在此背景下，三星计划明年在西安工厂陆续引进可生产236层（第8代）NAND的机器。
三星决定升级西安工厂主要出于两个原因。第一个原因是在NAND闪存市场状况没有出现复苏迹象的情况下，保持其在NAND市场的全球领先地位。去年年底开始的IT市场低迷和半导体市场疲软影响了三星的NAND业务，导致未售出库存增加，随后亏损扩大。
即使通过减产政策减产后，性能提升依然缓慢，促使其打出工艺升级牌。随着最新第8代产品的量产，不仅可以保证价格竞争力和需求，而且考虑到第8代比第6代有更多的工艺步骤，晶圆投入自然可以减少30%左右。这意味着市场需求和供应有平衡的潜力。
事实上，三星在4月份就正式宣布减产。作为第六代（128层）V-NAND主要生产基地的西安工厂开工率也大幅下降。由于传统产品（128层）市场需求有限，且无法确保价格竞争力，据了解，工厂整体开工率降至20%左右。
制程转变的另一个原因是美国暂时缓和了中国对三星和SK海力士的半导体法规。
去年10月，美国政府要求授权向中国本土芯片生产基地出售美国制造的设备，用于制造128层以上、14纳米或更小的NAND闪存和18纳米或更小的DRAM。随着美国政府宣布对三星电子和SK海力士等跨国半导体公司实施为期一年的“临时”出口管制，国内半导体企业对工厂运营可能受到限制的担忧和焦虑加剧。
不过，当地时间10月13日，美国商务部工业与安全局（BIS）正式宣布，三星电子和SK海力士的中国工厂将豁免美国针对中国的半导体设备监管。随着美国政府的这一豁免监管公告，三星和SK的本土设备获准入境，让运营NAND工厂的三星松了一口气。
三星和SK海力士，获得无限期豁免
据韩国联合通讯社周一报道，韩国芯片巨头三星和 SK 海力士将被允许无限期地将美国半导体制造设备运送到其中国工厂，而无需美国单独批准。
首尔总统经济事务高级秘书 Choi Sang-mok 周一对记者表示，美国政府已将其决定通知这两家公司，该决定将立即生效。
此前，三星电子和SK海力士获得了美国为期一年的豁免，可以继续为其中国工厂进口先进工具。豁免将于本月到期。
Choi 表示：“美国政府的决定意味着我们半导体公司最重要的贸易问题已经得到解决。”
最新进展平息了三星和SK海力士对其在中国芯片生产的担忧，因为中国芯片生产部分依赖美国设备。
惠誉报告称，中国是重要的制造中心，占三星闪存芯片 (NAND) 总产能的 40%。它还占SK海力士动态随机存取存储器(DRAM)芯片的40%-50%和NAND容量的20%。
根据市场研究公司 TrendForce 的数据， 三星电子和 SK 海力士分别是全球最大和第二大 DRAM 内存芯片制造商，美国美光公司排名第三。
韩国Nand Flash出口，1年来首次成长
最新数据显示，南韩Nand Flash 出口1 年来首次成长，进一步说明半导体需求低迷正在触底。
南韩科学技术资讯通信部周一(16 日) 公布，9 月份Nand Flash 出口年增5.6%，相较之下，8 月为年减8.9%。记忆体芯片市场的另一个重要组成DRAM，尽管仍然年减24.6%，但也远低于8 月份的年减35.2%。
记忆体芯片是南韩出口的主要动力，南韩严重依赖全球对科技产品的需求。虽然Nand Flash 的利润不如DRAM，但其无需电源即可保留数据的能力，使其成为记忆卡、数位相机和其他便携式设备等设备生产商的热门选择。
南韩决策者将希望寄托在芯片需求的复苏上，因为他们希望在全球利率预计将在更长时间内保持较高水准，并拖累整体消费的情况下支撑经济成长。三星电子和SK 海力士控制着全球记忆体市场的主要份额，而日本晶圆和设备供应商，预计也会从半导体销售的复苏中受益。
数据显示，9 月份南韩对中国的半导体出口总额仍低迷，较去年同期下降22.7%。对欧盟的出口量增加56.5%，而对美国的出口量则下降30.5%。
整体来看，南韩9 月份ICT 产品总出口额为181 亿美元，年减13.4%，创下自去年10 月以来最小的年率降幅。自去年7 月开始，韩国ICT 出口一直呈下降趋势，但在今年4 月份下降35.9% 后，最近几个月的下降速度有所放缓。
英文原文：
Samsung Electronics has decided to transition to a 200-layer NAND process at its NAND flash factory in Xi’an, China. The move to produce 236-layer products, which belong to the 8th generation of NAND, is seen as a strategic step to overcome a decline in performance due to sluggish global NAND demand.
According to industry sources on Oct. 15, Samsung’s executives have greenlit an upgrade to the NAND process in their Xi’an facility and have started extensive expansion efforts. Samsung has begun purchasing the latest semiconductor equipment for this transition, and new machinery is expected to be delivered by the end of the year.
The Xi’an factory of Samsung Electronics is the company’s only overseas memory semiconductor production base. Since its inception in 2014, the Xi’an facility expanded with a second factory in 2020 and has evolved into the world’s largest NAND manufacturing base, capable of producing 200,000 12-inch wafers per month. It accounts for over 40% of Samsung’s total NAND production. In this context, Samsung plans to sequentially introduce machinery in the Xi’an factory that can produce 236-layer (8th generation) NAND next year.
Samsung’s decision to upgrade its Xi’an factory is primarily due to two reasons. The first reason is to maintain its global leadership in the NAND market amid an environment where NAND flash market conditions are not showing signs of recovery. The IT market downturn and semiconductor market weakness, which began late last year, impacted Samsung’s NAND business, leading to increased unsold stock and subsequently widening losses.
Even after reducing production through a reduction policy, performance improvement was slow, prompting it to play the card of process upgrading. With the production of the latest 8th generation products, not only can it secure price competitiveness and demand, but considering that the 8th generation has more process steps than the 6th, wafer input can naturally be reduced by about 30%. This means there’s potential to balance market demand and supply.
In fact, Samsung officially declared a reduction in production in April. The operation rate of the Xi’an factory, which was the main production base for 6th generation (128-layer) V-NAND, also significantly decreased. Due to the limited market demand for legacy products (128-layer) and the inability to secure price competitiveness, it is known that the overall operation rate of the factory was reduced to the 20% range.
Another reason for the process shift is the temporary reprieve of Chinese semiconductor regulations by the U.S. for Samsung and SK hynix. Last October, the U.S. government required authorization for the sale of U.S.-made equipment to local chip production sites in China for the manufacturing of NAND flash above 128-layers, 14 nm or smaller, and DRAM 18 nm or smaller. As the U.S. government announced a “temporary” one-year export control reprieve for multinational semiconductor companies, including Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, concerns and anxieties grew among domestic semiconductor businesses about potential factory operation restrictions.
However, on Oct. 13 (local time), the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) officially announced that the Chinese factories of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix will be exempt from the US’s regulations on semiconductor equipment against China. With this exemption regulation announcement by the U.S. government, the entry of local equipment for Samsung and SK has been permitted, allowing Samsung, which operates the NAND factory, to breathe a sigh of relief.
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