Tuesday, May 14th 2019

Intel to Move 3D XPoint Memory Manufacturing to China

With its IMFlash Technology joint-venture with Micron coming to an end, Intel is finding itself with manufacturing challenges for its memory businesses. The company holds IP to both 3D NAND flash and its own invention 3D XPoint memory, which it believes will succeed NAND flash in performance and endurance. The company is now mulling to move manufacturing of 3D XPoint to a foundry in China. Intel currently manufactures this exotic new memory at an IMFlash Technology facility in Utah. Intel's $1.3 billion stake-sale to Micron pushes it out of this facility.

Under the terms of the stake-sale, Micron allows Intel to continue to manufacture 3D XPoint at IMFlash for a year, after which it must manufacture it elsewhere. The transfer of stake is scheduled for October 31st, which means Intel's manufacturing in Utah will continue till October 2020. In the meantime, Intel is planning to move manufacturing to its Fab 68, located in Dalian, China. Intel is now manufacturing 1st and 2nd generation 3D Xpoint, while its 3rd generation is under development, and was earlier slated for initial manufacturing at Intel's Fab 11X in New Mexico, USA. It's not known if Intel has changed these plans. 3rd generation 3D XPoint hits mass-production in 2021.
Source: AnandTech
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35 Comments on Intel to Move 3D XPoint Memory Manufacturing to China

#26
Gasaraki
my_name_is_earlI see China taking over Hollywood, the entire household goods, majority of car company production, all electronics. But oh no, they're not taking over the world at all. Relax, here's a free USB dongle.
The US used to manufacture everything also. It's a cycle, soon all the manufacturing will leave China once their wages catch up.

You can't complain because companies in capitalist countries want to make as much money as possible as their number one objective. China had low wages, the know how and manpower. That's why all the western companies flocked to China.

Money, China has it, the west wants it.
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#27
Metroid
Every well known company leaving china and Intel wants to go to china. Now I clearly see why Intel is behind AMD.
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#28
R0H1T
unikinICC has preventive role. If politicians would live in fear that their decisions could lead to being charged of war crimes and locked up for life, they'd think twice before committing war crime atrocities.
China has played by western rules since opening up so it could become a member of WTO, SWIFT network etc. But now they say F... it, we won't play your game, we're too big to be sanctioned anyway. Who can blame them with all the craziness happening on the international stage?
ICC just like the UN is toothless, the UN has failed since its inception in preventing wars, genocide & atrocities which could otherwise be classified as "war" crimes. The P5 have always used the UN for their self interest & consensus on important matters, like climate change, has been fleeting because of their shortsightedness. That is not to say that other major nations have not been greedy at various points, however the flawed structure of the UN has prevented meaningful reforms & lasting peace on earth. Same is the case with ICC, you need to have well defined laws or rules to make it meaningful, not to mention countries/leaders shouldn't get waivers arbitrarily because they're strong/weak or follow a particular religion etc.

Also I'm curious by which rules you're talking about ~ anything specific, because this tech transfer law was introduced way back IIRC?
kabarsaForming merger entities is a pretty normal thing, as well as the requirements to educate local personal and some know how sharing. Saying it's a theft is a pretty strange point of view on international trade and investment.
How many of these entities then go on to sell the same products, presumably under the JV, with a different name or export them? As far as I remember there's no major example of such JV (partners) exporting goods at the expense of the IP owner, foreign companies in this case.

And just to make many stand clear ~ the foreign firms are also responsible for exploiting cheap labor the world over as well as flouting environmental laws for more $ however that's a separate issue, albeit a very closely related one.
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#29
Dave65
Oh look another reason to avoid Intel:laugh:
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#30
Mistral
Terrible timing aside, you hold the IP to what you think is the next generation of memory, and you want to move to China? What do you think will happen?

"We" don't hate the Chinese, "we" dislike the CCP for various well documented reasons, including fostering rampant technology theft.
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#31
Sasqui
Under the terms of the stake-sale, Micron allows Intel to continue to manufacture 3D XPoint at IMFlash for a year, after which it must manufacture it elsewhere.
That makes absolutely no sense. How, how, how TF does this benefit Micron? The only thing it does is inconvenience Intel temporarily.

There must be more to the terms than just that.
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#32
Prima.Vera
lZKoceI don't think that IP's alone will make China the next guys to enter the CPU arena, but I might be wrong of course.
Fortunately the x86 and GPU Shader patents/licenses are still impossible to steal due to their unique feature sets, but even if the Chinese will manage to do that, they would only be able to sell those on the mainland, and even there I think is impossible due to already registered there... Also good luck with the supported software optimized for there specific chips.
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#33
kabarsa
R0H1THow many of these entities then go on to sell the same products, presumably under the JV, with a different name or export them? As far as I remember there's no major example of such JV (partners) exporting goods at the expense of the IP owner, foreign companies in this case.
And just to make many stand clear ~ the foreign firms are also responsible for exploiting cheap labor the world over as well as flouting environmental laws for more $ however that's a separate issue, albeit a very closely related one.
It depends on a JV type, stakes distribution for parties involved and maybe specific circumstances mentioned in an agreement. Of course there's an industrial espionage, IP leaks and other thing that can be seen all around, but it's not that simple. If we consider that IP is covered by patents, foreign markets are essentially closed for chinese companies if they will try to simply 'steal and sell', they are obligated to pay. For Huawei and other companies exporting their goods to USA and EU having to pay for patents is not a problem compared to opportunities these markets provide. There're AMD, GM, VW Group partnerships, but we will not see chinese x86 CPUs outside of china, at least for now. Their IP problem is more about content than stealing and exporting high tech products, because it's very hard to do and may be not even worth it. Essentially they can become a major player in the field by simply investing more, especially if it's a national development program and is backed by the government. You can see how it's made in USA by subsidizing strategically important corporations. It's made to look scarier than it really is, or majority of companies would abandon china by now.

I agree about the cheap labor, western people are used to paying less for things compared to their income, but it's not sustainable, it'll have to go away, settle for less, especially if India, Vietnam and other countries will no longer be cheap. Who will be next to try to keep these margins, maybe Africa, but who knows. I hope that this sort of situation will force some systemic changes eventually. Nuclear weapon is a blocker to try to solve this with a large scale war.
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#34
remixedcat
ChomiqIntel's got FAB's building in US, Ireland and Israel, two of those matter very much to the current POTUS. He won't touch Intel.
One thing I diasgree w trump on. Israel doesn't need help. America first! Use that money on infrastructure!

In West Virginia we got tons of empty buildings,and low cost of living and doing biz here. We need companies to come to WV! Intel should put a fab or two here and then people will flock to WV and help our economy!

Facebook and Zayo and 2 other telcos are gonna ramp up fiber infrastructure in my state and WV legislators are pushing hard for broadband expansion and support 5G deployments. Hope our state succeeds in that and turns my area into Silicon Mountains.
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