Today, several Taiwanese media outlets reported that Dr. Zhou Meisheng, the retired former Executive Vice President of Technology R&D at SMIC and a key technical figure, has joined ChangXin Storage as the head of their Technology Research and Development Center. However, this is not breaking news; it's actually old news.
According to insights gathered by Chip Intelligence from relevant sources, Dr. Zhou Meisheng actually joined ChangXin Storage shortly after leaving SMIC, and she has been with ChangXin Storage for almost two years now.
The only difference is that ChangXin Storage did not make a big public announcement about this news before. It's unclear why the Taiwanese media is choosing to bring this up at this time.
Records indicate that Dr. Zhou Meisheng, born in January 1958, holds Singaporean citizenship and a doctoral degree.
She previously served as the Chief Technology Officer for Greater China at Fulin Semiconductor Equipment Technology Company and held management positions at Xcerra Corporation, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), and GLOBALFOUNDRIES. From 2017 to June 2022, she served as the Executive Vice President of Technology R&D at SMIC.
On the evening of June 30, 2022, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) announced that Dr. Zhou Meisheng, Vice President of Technology Research and Development, and a key technical figure, would no longer hold any position in the company due to retirement.
SMIC stated that through long-term technological accumulation and development, it has established a comprehensive research and development system. The company has always attached great importance to the cultivation and construction of its talent pool, emphasizing the training and selection of potential employees, thus forming an expanding team of outstanding researchers and a deep reserve of talent. This ensures the company's ability to maintain technological advancement and sustain innovation.
As a domestic manufacturer of DRAM chips, Changxin Memory Technologies has achieved some success in recent years.
At the end of 2023, Changxin Memory Technologies announced on its website that it had developed the first domestically produced LPDDR5 DRAM memory chip and would introduce a series of LPDDR5 products, including 12GB LPDDR5, 12GB LPDDR5 in POP packaging, and 6GB LPDDR5 in DSC packaging.
However, compared to leading DRAM chip manufacturers such as Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron, Changxin Memory Technologies still faces significant challenges, especially given the ongoing pressure from the United States on the Chinese semiconductor industry in recent years.
In fact, Samsung of South Korea was the first to announce the mass production of 12GB LPDDR5 mobile DRAM in the industry as early as July 2019.
Micron began supplying LPDDR5 DRAM with memory capacities of 6GB, 8GB, and 12GB in February 2020.
SK Hynix announced the mass production of 18GB LPDDR5 mobile DRAM products in August 2021.
Analyzing these timelines, the technological gap between Changxin Memory Technologies and international giants is approximately four years.
