Boss of Chinese memory maker Yangtze departs for no obvious reason
(2022/10/05)
- Reference: 1664951526
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/10/05/yangtze_ceo_steps_down/
- Source link:
The CEO of Chinese RAM and SSD maker Yangtze Memory Technologies Company (YMTC) appears to have stepped down from his position, a move that follows the departure of several other senior Chinese chipmaking execs in recent weeks.
Reports appeared on Chinese [1]media that the decision for CEO Simon Yang to step down and assume his new role as executive vice chairman was the result of a September 28 board meeting.
Yang, an industry veteran, will be replaced by Chen Nanxiang, a former general manager at China Resources Microelectronics. A reason was not given for the change and YMTC has not made an official comment on the move.
[2]
"Since [Simon Yang] took over [YMTC], he has led the company to achieve many successes in the field of 3D NAND flash memory, from 32-layer technology to the successful research and development of 64-layer chips, proposed the world's unique Xtacking technology, and then reached the world's advanced level of 128-layer flash memory chips, [Simon Yang], as the core of the team, is indispensable," according to local media outlet [3]IC Rank.
[4]Tetchy trainee turned the lights down low to teach turgid lecturer a lesson
[5]Tesla has a lot of work to do on its Optimus robot
[6]You thought you bought software – all you bought was a lie
[7]FBI: We tracked who was printing secret documents to unmask ex-NSA suspect
[8]The open internet repels its most insidious attackers. They'll return
YMTC is China's biggest memory maker and contributes to the nation's tech self-reliance goals. It is also around a quarter state-owned. Tsinghua Unigroup, Hubei provincial government and China's "Big Fund" founded YMTC in July 2016, the year Yang became CEO.
We have asked YMTC for comment.
[9]
[10]
The Big Fund, more formally known as the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, provides financing to Chinese semiconductor design and manufacturing capabilities. The Fund aims to improve China's competitiveness measured against the capability and output of the US, South Korea, and Taiwan.
Executives associated with the "Big Fund" have not had an easy time lately. Over the past two months, China's anti-corruption enforcers have [11]investigated at least seven execs or former execs associated with management company, Sino IC Capital, and/or the Big Fund. The man who oversaw big investments to YMTC, Ren Kai, was placed under investigation last month.
[12]
Few Chinese careers survive a corruption charge, as the nation's government abhors actual corruption. Government officials are also not keen on those who amass sufficient power or influence to challenge the Communist Party, or who fail to achieve government goals. A corruption charge is felt to sometimes be a way of disgracing potential rivals, or punishing failed managers.
The troubles of Big Fund execs could be the result of either use of a corruption charge.
Which is what makes YMTC's actions different, because the company has [13]reportedly score a gig providing parts to Apple's iPhone 14 , placing it alongside Samsung, SK Hynix and Kioxia. Global success of that sort is just the kind of win China craves.
[14]
US politicians, however, have [15]pondered [PDF] whether Apple dealing with YMTC is a good idea. Some stateside lawmakers had previously advocated for YMTC to be placed on the US Bureau of Industry and Security's Entity List and requested a review of YMTC's potential as a national security threat. ®
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[1] https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/569701406
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[4] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/03/who_me/
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[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/04/you_cannot_buy_software/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/03/nsa_worker_fbi_espionage/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/03/open_internet_opinion_column/
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[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/20/china_big_fund_corruption/
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[13] http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=99901
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[15] https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/c49ade94-de2e-4daf-bff2-fe1ecb58ed3a/B293C77F6F2D9FAA44878B994C0A537B.09.21.22---rubio-letter-to-odni-re-ymtc.pdf
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Reports appeared on Chinese [1]media that the decision for CEO Simon Yang to step down and assume his new role as executive vice chairman was the result of a September 28 board meeting.
Yang, an industry veteran, will be replaced by Chen Nanxiang, a former general manager at China Resources Microelectronics. A reason was not given for the change and YMTC has not made an official comment on the move.
[2]
"Since [Simon Yang] took over [YMTC], he has led the company to achieve many successes in the field of 3D NAND flash memory, from 32-layer technology to the successful research and development of 64-layer chips, proposed the world's unique Xtacking technology, and then reached the world's advanced level of 128-layer flash memory chips, [Simon Yang], as the core of the team, is indispensable," according to local media outlet [3]IC Rank.
[4]Tetchy trainee turned the lights down low to teach turgid lecturer a lesson
[5]Tesla has a lot of work to do on its Optimus robot
[6]You thought you bought software – all you bought was a lie
[7]FBI: We tracked who was printing secret documents to unmask ex-NSA suspect
[8]The open internet repels its most insidious attackers. They'll return
YMTC is China's biggest memory maker and contributes to the nation's tech self-reliance goals. It is also around a quarter state-owned. Tsinghua Unigroup, Hubei provincial government and China's "Big Fund" founded YMTC in July 2016, the year Yang became CEO.
We have asked YMTC for comment.
[9]
[10]
The Big Fund, more formally known as the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, provides financing to Chinese semiconductor design and manufacturing capabilities. The Fund aims to improve China's competitiveness measured against the capability and output of the US, South Korea, and Taiwan.
Executives associated with the "Big Fund" have not had an easy time lately. Over the past two months, China's anti-corruption enforcers have [11]investigated at least seven execs or former execs associated with management company, Sino IC Capital, and/or the Big Fund. The man who oversaw big investments to YMTC, Ren Kai, was placed under investigation last month.
[12]
Few Chinese careers survive a corruption charge, as the nation's government abhors actual corruption. Government officials are also not keen on those who amass sufficient power or influence to challenge the Communist Party, or who fail to achieve government goals. A corruption charge is felt to sometimes be a way of disgracing potential rivals, or punishing failed managers.
The troubles of Big Fund execs could be the result of either use of a corruption charge.
Which is what makes YMTC's actions different, because the company has [13]reportedly score a gig providing parts to Apple's iPhone 14 , placing it alongside Samsung, SK Hynix and Kioxia. Global success of that sort is just the kind of win China craves.
[14]
US politicians, however, have [15]pondered [PDF] whether Apple dealing with YMTC is a good idea. Some stateside lawmakers had previously advocated for YMTC to be placed on the US Bureau of Industry and Security's Entity List and requested a review of YMTC's potential as a national security threat. ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/569701406
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Yz1VwXBhqml9A-Yx831dWwAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] http://www.icsmart.cn/56597/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/03/who_me/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/03/tesla_optimus_prototype/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/04/you_cannot_buy_software/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/03/nsa_worker_fbi_espionage/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/03/open_internet_opinion_column/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yz1VwXBhqml9A-Yx831dWwAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/20/china_big_fund_corruption/
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[13] http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=99901
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[15] https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/c49ade94-de2e-4daf-bff2-fe1ecb58ed3a/B293C77F6F2D9FAA44878B994C0A537B.09.21.22---rubio-letter-to-odni-re-ymtc.pdf
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
SCMP had this to say on the topic:
Yang, a US-educated engineer who previously worked at Intel and GlobalFoundries for more than a decade, is one of the leading figures in China’s push for technological self-reliance.
In 2001, Yang became one of the founding members of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), the country’s largest chip foundry, and rose to become chief operations officer in 2010 before resigning the following year.
In January 2013, Wuhan Xinxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp announced that Yang has been appointed its new CEO. Tsinghua Unigroup acquired the memory chip maker in 2016, when it was transformed into YMTC.
Under Yang’s leadership, YMTC quickly grew into an industry giant. One of its latest products is a 232-layer chip, according to Chinese media, which would put it on par with leading memory chip makers like Samsung Electronics, Micron and SK Hynix.
This growth has invited scrutiny. Washington has reportedly been weighing a ban on selling US semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China’s advanced NAND flash chip foundries, citing a “growing threat” posed by manufacturers like YMTC to national security and US chip companies.
Perhaps he will still be running the show - but from the shadows - to avoid drawing attention and ire on himself.