Mei Guang is banned from selling local memory in China
For six months, Fujian Jinhua, Taiwan Union Electric and Mei Guang's long-standing patent lawsuits finally came to bear fruit. In July 3rd, the Fuzhou intermediate people's court ruled that Mei Guang semiconductor sales (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. immediately stopped selling and importing more than ten solid state hard disks, memory strips and related chips. It also ruled that Mei Guang semiconductor (Xi'an) Co., Ltd. immediately stopped manufacturing, selling and importing several types of memory products.
Mei Guang's sudden ban is indeed unexpected. Such a result also naturally reminds us of the recent Sino US trade dispute. But in fact, the US and the United Nations have been fighting for a year, and the recent ban is also a critical moment for the development of China's storage industry. The market share lost by Mei Guang in China has given local manufacturers ample opportunity to practice in the development stage, creating opportunities for the rise of local storage.
The achievements of Jin China can not be seen in the beauty of mass production
At present, the state has realized the importance of memory, and the process of autonomy has started. In recent years, the Yangtze River storage has been born in the field of NAND, and there are two projects in Hefei, including Changxin and Fujian Jinhua, and the latter is the protagonist of this victory over the United States and Hefei.
Traced to the source, the Jinhua integrated circuit is jointly funded by Fujian electronic information group and Jinjiang Energy Investment Group Co., Ltd., aiming at DRAM technology. The first target is to produce 32nm niche type DRAM, and its technical partner is Taiwan Lianhua electronic (Lianhua).
According to the disclosure, Jinhua project is responsible for technology development by Lian Dian, and Jinhua pays its remuneration according to the progress of the project. After the completion of the development, the technology is owned by both sides, and the products are produced by the 12 inch factory built by Jinhua investment. At present, the wafer fab is under construction and is expected to be put into operation in the 3 quarter of this year. As the old manufacturer of the wafer generation, the company has given some technology and patents to the DRAM products of the manufacturers, so it has a great grasp of the successful development of the products of Jinhua.
And the other side of the lawsuit, Mei Guang also has a deep layout in Taiwan, and intends to build an Asian DRAM industry center. The cooperation between Lian Dian and Jinhua has obviously put pressure on Mei Guang, so Mei Guang has chosen to take the lead. In September 2017, Mei Guang first tried to steal business secrets from its employees through the joint venture, and filed a lawsuit in Taiwan. In December, Mei Guang filed a lawsuit in the United States, accusing the company of stealing commercial secrets.
But according to the joint statement, its DRAM is different from the core technology of Mei Guang. Because of long-term accumulation of OEM, it has the ability to develop DRAM independently.
The United States and Jin China counterattack Mei Guang were banned from the mainland
Meiguang started first, and Lianhua and Jinhua had to fight back. In January this year, the United Nations filed an indictment in Fuzhou intermediate people's court for its infringement of intellectual property rights. In July 3rd, a ruling by the Fuzhou court ruled that Mei Guang immediately stopped selling its brand, memory and SSD products (26 kinds). It is worth mentioning that the ruling is issued in the form of "prosecution ban", although the right to appeal is the right, but the final decision is still in the hands of the court.
When the ban came out, the share price of Mei Guang fell 5.5% on the same day, reflecting investors' concerns about their prospects. According to statistics, about 26% of micron's DRAM capacity has been supplied to the Chinese market, while NAND has a 20% share. The ban will affect 1% of its revenue in the next quarter. If we consider the high growth of China's memory market, the potential loss of us light will not stop there. In addition, the Fujian court's prohibition also stipulates that the United States Xi'an factory will stop testing the products and the sales of Mei Guang semiconductor (Shanghai) company will stop. As a result, Meguiar's industrial chain in China has also been hit.
The dispute between Mei Guang and Lian Hua and Jinhua ended in such a tragic failure that it was beyond the industry's expectation. We have to admit that there is a game between China and the United States, but the more important thing is that China has started the strategy of memory autonomy. It is also a rational choice for China to open up the market by suppressing foreign big factories for the local new show.
Butterfly Effect: the Han factory is able to steal and laugh at home
The ban on Mei Guang's ban in China is a reflection of the background of Sino US trade disputes. In the early days, ZTE was banned in the United States for several months. The ban was also viewed by the outside world as a response to the US. Indeed, if there is no trade war background, it is unlikely that the us light will be directly banned, let alone be enforced in the form of "prosecution in the prohibition".
From the point of view of memory market, Mei Guang's ban is first of all good for Han factory. Samsung, SK helix, whether in the DRAM or NAND, the total of over half of the city, after the ban, the two Korean factories will certainly win the market share out of spare. However, we must pay attention to the fact that China has launched an antitrust investigation against the two Korean factories and the United States of America, as the price of memory has been soaring for a long time. The ban on the sale of Mei Guang is also viewed by the outside world as a warning to Samsung and SK Hynix.
It is not hard to see that the most important influence of the us light ban is to create opportunities for local memory manufacturers. In the early days, the technology of local manufacturers was generally lagging behind the two generation of international big factories. In order to win a place in the market, we should not only increase investment in research and development, but also have a certain market space for practice.
At present, the Yangtze River storage and Hefei Changxin have entered the steps of plant completion and machine installation. In a short period of time, the gap in the field of domestic memory is to be filled, and whether it is an antitrust investigation of Samsung, SK helix and the United States, or the weakening of the beauty in Asia through the ban, the intention to escort local manufacturers can be seen.
