Sanctions on Chinese memory maker YMTC lead to layoffs

Due to US sanctions, China’s leading NAND Flash memory and DRAM manufacturer, YMTChas announced a cut in your workforce. Specifically, the company announced that it had to lay off 10% of your employees. The reason is obvious, the reduction in sales after losing their American customers.

Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp. (YMTC) announced the layoffs to its employees almost 2 months after being listed on a trade blacklist from United States. This company has about 6,000 employees, so we would be talking about up to 600 people laid off. This information has come to light from of the employees themselves. One of them claimed that he had been working for more than four years, when YMTC asked him to return the more than 400,000 yuan (59,000 US dollars / 54,700 euros) that he had received as a grant to buy an apartment near the YMTC headquarters.

The employee revealed on the social network ‘Zhihu’ that he had bought the apartment with a discount under the preferred housing policy of the company However, since his tenure with YMTC was less than five years, the company forced him to pay the difference in price. Now, this difference has to be paid back. This affects other users. It is indicated that workers who have been at YMTC for less than five years were asked to return amounts ranging from between 300,000 and 1 million yuan (from 41,000 to 137,000 euros).

YMTC: from a juicy deal with Apple and great growth, to layoffs

You have to remember that this ban on YMTC led to two things: Apple will not integrate its memory chips on their devices, and that Samsung will take advantage from the lack of competition to increase their prices by 10%.

Specifically, the US Commerce Department’s Office of Industry and Security included YMTC, along with 35 other Chinese entities, on the trade blacklist that restricts the purchase of US products and services without Washington’s approval. The United States alleges that YMTC has supplied products to companies already subject to its export controls, including Huawei and surveillance camera maker Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co.

Following this, local newspapers have reported that YMTC could even postpone construction of its second wafer factory in Wuhan due to interruptions in their supply chain. YMTC has not commented publicly on the impact of the US sanctions. However, industry analysts have said that it will be very difficult for the chipmaker further develop its latest 3D NAND flash technologyknown as Xtacking 3.0having been denied access to advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

Prior to that, as of mid-October, the company was still recruiting recent graduates, offering them generous salary packages, which included at least 15 days of annual leave and the right to purchase a new home in a specific residential complex in the city of Wuhan at 40% below market value. After the US veto, the picture has changed a lot.