中国存储芯片巨头长江存储科技（CXMT）正推进一种美国竞争对手美光科技（Micron Technology）选择绕过的替代芯片架构，凸显了业界在成本和地缘政治限制下，如何在硅片上装入更多数据方面存在的分歧。
Chinese memory chip giant ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) is pressing ahead with an alternative chip architecture that US rival Micron Technology has chosen to bypass, highlighting an industry divide over how best to pack more data onto silicon under cost and geopolitical constraints.
根据该公司周六发布的最新业绩简报摘要，这家位于合肥的公司计划在今年年底前向客户发送其首款基于4F²架构的服务器级动态随机存取存储器（DRAM）产品样品。
The Hefei-based company planned to send customers samples of its first server-grade dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) product built on the 4F² architecture by the end of this year, according to a summary of its latest earnings briefing released on Saturday.
未披露量产时间表。CXMT表示，商业化推出将取决于客户验证和市场需求。
A timeline for mass production was not disclosed. CXMT said commercial roll-out would depend on client validation and market demand.
分析人士认为，对于中国领先的DRAM制造商CXMT而言，这一转变是应对美国出口限制的关键替代方案。
For CXMT, China’s leading DRAM maker, the shift represented a critical workaround to US export restrictions, according to analysts.
华盛顿的限制措施禁止中国芯片制造商从荷兰供应商ASML购买先进的极紫外光（EUV）光刻系统，切断了全球同行用于缩小存储电路的标准路线。
Washington’s curbs have barred Chinese chipmakers from buying advanced extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems from Dutch supplier ASML, cutting off the standard route used by global peers to shrink memory circuitry.
美国银行证券（BofA Securities）周三的一份研究报告指出，4F²提供了一条无需EUV工具即可实现更高存储密度的替代路径。该行表示，成功实现大规模制造可能增强CXMT的竞争力，但同时也警告称，该工艺带来更高成本和执行风险。
In a research note on Wednesday, BofA Securities said 4F² offered an alternative path to higher memory density without requiring EUV tools. Successful volume manufacturing could strengthen CXMT’s competitiveness, the bank noted, while cautioning that the process brought higher costs and execution risks.
DRAM芯片为从智能手机到人工智能数据中心服务器等设备提供高速工作内存，是必不可少的。随着计算工作负载激增，制造商正在寻找在每片硅片上装入更多容量的方法。
DRAM chips provide the high-speed working memory essential for devices ranging from smartphones to servers in artificial intelligence data centres. As computing workloads surge, manufacturers are looking for ways to cram more capacity onto each silicon wafer.
传统DRAM芯片采用6F²布局。通过采用更紧凑的布局，4F²设计在相同特征尺寸下将每个单元占地面积缩小约三分之一，可能使更多比特能够装入相同面积。
Conventional DRAM chips rely on a 6F² layout. By adopting a tighter layout, the 4F² design shrinks each cell footprint by roughly a third at the same feature size, potentially allowing more bits to fit within the same area.
然而，该架构需要额外的制造步骤，并存在良率降低的风险，这可能会削弱其成本优势。
However, the architecture requires additional manufacturing steps and risks lower production yields, which can erode its cost benefits.
美国最大的存储芯片制造商美光科技仍对该设计在最先进工艺节点上是否具有经济意义持怀疑态度。
Micron, the largest US memory producer, remains sceptical that the design makes economic sense at the most advanced level.
上个月的一次网络研讨会上，美光科技总裁兼首席技术和产品官Scott DeBoer表示，物理极限——具体而言是存储电荷电容器的间距——最终决定了存储芯片能达到多高的密度。
At a webinar last month, Micron’s president and chief technology and products officer Scott DeBoer said physical limits, specifically the spacing of charge-storing capacitors, ultimately determined how dense memory chips could be.
“制造4F²芯片在较老旧的生产节点上更复杂、更繁琐、成本更高，”DeBoer说道。美光科技计划继续改进其现有设计，同时开发三维DRAM，即垂直堆叠存储单元。
It’s more complicated, it’s more complex, it’s more costlyScott DeBoer, Micron Technology“It’s more complicated, it’s more complex, it’s more costly,” DeBoer said of manufacturing 4F² chips on older production nodes. Micron Technology plans to keep improving its existing design while developing three-dimensional DRAM, which stacks memory cells vertically.
DeBoer补充说，美光科技对4F²架构进行了超过二十年的研究并制造了原型，但发现进一步缩小该架构存在根本性极限。
DeBoer added that Micron Technology had researched 4F² for more than two decades and built prototypes, but it found fundamental limits to shrinking the architecture any further.
在简报会上被问及海外竞争对手放弃该架构一事时，长鑫存储（CXMT）为其战略进行了辩护，称制造选择反映了各公司的技术经验、生产线、专利组合和投资计划。
Asked during its briefing about overseas rivals opting out of the architecture, CXMT defended its strategy, saying manufacturing choices reflected each firm’s technical experiences, production lines, patent portfolios and investment plans.
长鑫存储周五公布第三季度营收为1187.1亿元人民币（约178亿美元），同比增长613%，利润达到540亿元。
CXMT on Friday posted third-quarter revenue of 118.71 billion yuan (US$17.8 billion), up 613 per cent from a year earlier, while profit reached 54 billion yuan.
该芯片制造商前九个月研发支出为110.7亿元，同比增长73%。
The chipmaker spent 11.07 billion yuan on research and development in the first nine months, up 73 per cent from a year earlier.
与此同时，韩国业界领军企业正保持选择开放。三星电子在2月举行的国际固态电路会议（ISSCC）上展示了一款可工作的16吉比特4F²测试芯片。
South Korea’s industry leaders, meanwhile, are keeping their options open. Samsung Electronics presented a working 16-gigabit 4F² test chip at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in February.
竞争对手SK海力士周三对投资者表示，其重点仍是利用先进光刻技术延伸6F²架构，同时准备在市场经济性和技术就绪度证明转型合理时，转向4F²或3D DRAM。
Rival SK Hynix told investors on Wednesday that its priority remained extending 6F² using advanced lithography, while preparing to move to 4F² or 3D DRAM when market economics and technical readiness justify a transition.
“技术开发的时机与商业化的时机是截然不同的，”SK海力士表示。
“The timing of technological development and the timing of commercialisation are distinct from each other,” SK Hynix said.