According to reports by the Nikkei, Yangtze Memory is not currently installing manufacturing equipment in its Fab2 and is letting go of employees, possibly up to 10% of its staff. The company's original plan was to install the equipment during the summer, but it appears that US sanctions have impeded progress.
The $15 billion Fab2 was designed to operate at a capacity of 200k wpm and was intended to increase Yangtze's market share to 10%, whereas the current Fab1 can run at a capacity of 100k wpm. The future of the project is now uncertain, as the CEO, who holds a US passport, resigned just before the sanctions were imposed, and US-based technicians employed by US manufacturing equipment companies who were working at the Yangtze site, have returned home.
