China memory chip output zooms from zero to 5% of world total

Mass production to start in 2020 as Beijing guns for technological self-sufficiency

20191120 Logos of ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) and Yangtze Memory

In its drive for technological self-sufficiency, Beijing has pumped billions of dollars into building a semiconductor industry led by ChangXin Memory Technologies and Yangtze Memory Technologies. (Nikkei montage/Reuters).

CHENG TING-FANG and LAULY LI, Nikkei staff writers

November 20, 2019 17:00 JST

TAIPEI -- Beijing's push for technological self-sufficiency is on the verge of a major breakthrough, with the country's nascent chip industry on track to produce around 5% of the world's memory chips by the end of 2020 from virtually zero last year, sources familiar with the matter told the Nikkei Asian Review.