YMTC laying off 10% of workforce
Memory chip maker Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp (YMTC) is laying off up to 10 percent of its workforce, according to a South China Morning Post report.
The SCMP account links the layoffs – several hundred out of a staffing complement of about 6,000 – to the fact that YMTC was recently added to a US trade entity list (see Advanced logic, memory, YMTC come under China export controls).
However, the memory market has been experiencing a glut of supply as demand has turned down due to recessionary pressures around the world. Reduced deliveries and falling prices have hit all memory chip companies. Micron for one is looking cuts its staffing (see Micron to cut 10 percent of work force).
YMTC’s position is more precarious. Because it was added to the US Department of Commerce’s entity list it will become hard for it receive necessary semiconductor manufacturing equipment and technical support from US and other vendors. Market analyst TrendForce speculated that restrictions could drive the company to the edge of collapse within a couple of years (see YMTC could be out of 3D-NAND by 2024, says TrendForce).
There is speculation that YMTC may postpone the construction of its second wafer fab in Wuhan due to these restrictions.
YMTC has also come to public attention because of a property deal associated with at least one of its former workers According to the SCMP report, a laid-off employee posted on Chinese social media that he had been asked to pay back 400,000 yuan (about US$59,000) for a subsidized apartment he was helped to buy by the company.
Such “clawbacks” may apply to many of the layoffs.
Related links and articles:
Micron to cut 10 percent of work force
YMTC could be out of 3D-NAND by 2024, says TrendForce
Advanced logic, memory, YMTC come under China export controls
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