YMTC Plans Two Additional Wuhan Fabs as Phase 3 Exceeds 50% Domestic Tooling Threshold

China's premier memory chipmaker Yangtze Memory Technologies Corporation (YMTC) disclosed plans this week for two additional fabrication plants in Wuhan, beyond its Phase 3 facility currently ramping to volume production. The three-fab Wuhan complex will collectively target 300,000 wafers per month at full capacity — a scale that would position YMTC as the world's third-largest NAND flash memory producer, behind Samsung and Kioxia. The milestone of Phase 3 crossing Beijing's 50% domestic tooling threshold — meaning more than half of the fab equipment is sourced from Chinese suppliers rather than ASML, Tokyo Electron, or Applied Materials — is strategically significant. Phase 3 is expected to reach 50,000 wafers per month by 2027 and volume ramp begins in the second half of 2026. YMTC has achieved 232-layer 3D NAND technology and its current monthly output already stands at approximately 500,000 wafers. US export controls placed YMTC on the Entity List in December 2022, accelerating China's domestic semiconductor equipment investment. The domestic tooling threshold achievement suggests that US restrictions on chip manufacturing equipment are being partially offset by advances in China's domestic equipment industry, particularly through SMEE (Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group) for lithography and AMEC for etching tools. Each new YMTC fab represents approximately $10B+ in capital investment and creates a self-reinforcing demand signal for China's domestic equipment sector.