Beijing - Tsinghua Unigroup plans to build a $30 billion
memory-chip production complex that will become China’s largest, even as US
officials raise concerns about the country’s intention of dominating an
industry crucial to the computing and smartphone markets.
The arm of the government-linked Tsinghua group intends
to erect a semiconductor complex around an envisioned plant in the eastern city
of Nanjing that will have an initial monthly capacity of 100 000 wafers. That
will help China “leapfrog development in mainstream storage,” according to a
statement carried on the company’s website.
Tsinghua, the investment and technology affiliate of the
university attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping, is leading a $150 billion
charge to develop a world-class semiconductor industry and reduce the country’s
reliance on foreign technology. The US however is concerned that a dominant
China could threaten the competitiveness of American players and even national
security. Intel Corp., Micron Technology Inc. and Qualcomm Inc. are among the
biggest US suppliers of chips to China.
Tsinghua’s plant will mainly make the 3D-NAND and DRAM
memory chips used in smartphones, personal computers and other consumer
electronics. The surrounding “city” consists of packaging facilities,
residences for employees and other support structures, according to the
statement. A Unigroup spokesman declined to comment further.
It’s difficult to assess the new plant’s impact to the
industry because of a lack of detailed information, said Roger Sheng, an
analyst at Gartner.
“Unigroup’s expansion may be too fast for an emerging
player,” he said.
The latest plan marks one of the more ambitious efforts
unveiled to date by Tsinghua, which plans to embark on a global
acquisition spree. It’s completed a spate of high-profile acquisitions in
recent years through units such as Unigroup and Tsinghua Tongfang, including of
RDA Microelectronics Inc. and Spreadtrum Communications.
But its efforts have encountered foreign resistance of
late. It withdrew from a $3.8 billion investment in Western Digital in the face
of a US security review, and a potential $23 billion bid for Micron didn’t
materialize last year. In Taiwan, Unigroup and Powertech Technology Inc. said
on Jan. 13 they will terminate a share-purchase agreement after failing to win
government approval. In November, its planned investment in ChipMOS
Technologies was also scrapped.
Wilbur Ross, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for
commerce secretary, told a confirmation hearing Thursday he was “very, very
concerned” about China’s ambitions in semiconductors.
“The Chinese are the world’s largest consumer of
semiconductors, so far are mainly importing it a lot from here. And
semiconductors are a basic building block,” Ross said.
BLOOMBERG