An associate recently directed The Memory Guy to a short but interesting article published last March in Korea’s Chosen Daily called: Micron’s cautious EUV strategy raises questions on future DRAM edge. As the headline promises, the article questions Micron’s decision to postpone using EUV to make DRAM until its 1-gamma process node, which is now in mass production.
It’s particularly interesting to compare/contrast a couple of key points in the article, one towards the beginning, and one towards the end. This first is the following quote:
A Micron spokesperson said, “EUV technology still lacks full stability, so we have applied it only where absolutely necessary. We believe this was the right timing after evaluating cost and productivity.”
Now compare this to Samsung’s status in the final paragraph
Samsung, which owns more than 30 EUV machines—the most among the three memory makers—is making adjustments to its EUV process after setbacks in its fourth- and fifth-generation 10-nanometer DRAM.
Although the article generally makes out that Micron is in a trailing position, these two quotes actually seem to support the notion that Micron made the right choice.
Samsung was indeed the first to use EUV for DRAM, and it makes sense for them to have done that, since they’re the only DRAM maker that could share a single EUV tool between their foundry and DRAM fabs. By doing this, the DRAM side of the business was burdened with only part of an EUV tool’s enormous $100 million price tag.
But being first doesn’t necessarily align with profitability, and Micron is betting that they will benefit from their having delayed their EUV investment as long as possible. This is a strategy that has worked well for Micron in the past, particularly with the last major lithography tool advancement when immersion EUV tools were new.
Another noteworthy point is that the Samsung quote above tells of the company’s challenges making its fourth and fifth generation 10nm chips, while the paragraph with the Micron quote discusses Micron’s sixth generation DRAM, introduced in February. Micron is, in fact, ahead of its competition in shipping a sixth generation part.
Objective Analysis makes a point of understanding the technologies we track. This understanding provides our clients with a considerable competitive advantage that’s unavailable elsewhere. If you would like for your company to similarly benefit from this knowledge, please contact us to explore the many ways that we can help.