Industry Shake-Up: Yang Shining Joins Rongxin as Ningbo 12-Inch Wafer Fab Halts Operations

On September 7, industry sources revealed that former Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC) CEO Yang Shining has joined Rongxin Semiconductor, even as reports surface that the company’s ambitious Ningbo 12-inch wafer fab project has been put on hold. This development could signal adjustments in technology roadmap, capacity planning, and customer collaborations.

Rongxin Semiconductor: A Rapid Rise in China’s Chip Industry

Founded in April 2021 with a registered capital of RMB 232 million, Rongxin quickly made waves by acquiring all assets of Dehuai Semiconductor for RMB 1.666 billion just four months later. The company reorganized and expanded the production line, assembled a skilled team, and positioned itself as a key player in mature-node wafer manufacturing.

Its core business covers 12-inch wafer fabrication and wafer-level packaging/testing for processes ranging from 180nm to 28nm. End-use products include image sensors (CIS), display drivers (TDDI/OLED DDIC), power devices (MOSFET/IGBT), power management ICs (PMIC), and NOR flash memory. Rongxin operates under a “virtual IDM” model with top domestic chip design houses, ensuring deep capital and technical integration, stable initial orders, and a smooth capacity ramp-up. Backed strongly by the local government, its fab construction has been government-supported through a build-to-suit model.

By October 2022, Rongxin’s first products had entered mass production, with customer deliveries commencing before year-end. The Ningbo site was later announced as home to an 80,000 wafers/month 12-inch production line and a 30,000 wafers/month wafer-level packaging facility, with total investment reaching RMB 22.9 billion.

A Flagship Project in Flux

Located next to SMIC’s Ningbo facility on a 270-acre site with complete industrial and living infrastructure, the Ningbo fab was a major strategic project. Construction began in April 2025 with a target of 200,000 wafers/month by 2030. However, the reported pause raises questions about the project’s next phase and potential realignment of its goals.

Rongxin has attracted backing from prominent investors such as Sequoia China, Yuanhe Puhua, Welhao Chuangxin, Meituan, and Beijing Junzheng, with a valuation hitting RMB 16 billion by 2024.

Yang Shining: A Veteran Technologist with Global Impact

Born in August 1959, Yang holds a B.S. in Electronic Instruments & Measurement Technology from Shanghai University (formerly Shanghai University of Science and Technology) and later earned a M.S. in Physics and Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from the prestigious Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in the United States.

Yang’s career spans decades at the forefront of semiconductor innovation. He served as Senior Director of Logic Technology at Intel for over ten years, then as CTO and SVP of Operations at Chartered Semiconductor (now GlobalFoundries). After Chartered’s acquisition by Abu Dhabi’s GlobalFoundries, Yang moved to SMIC as Chief Operating Officer in 2010, later becoming CEO of Wuhan Xinxin in 2013. Following the company’s acquisition by Tsinghua Unigroup, he became CEO of YMTC in 2016.

Under his leadership, YMTC made historic breakthroughs in 3D NAND flash technology, moving from 32-layer to 64-layer production, pioneering the Xtacking architecture, and achieving world-class 128-layer chip performance.

Yang stepped down as YMTC CEO in October 2022 for personal reasons and most recently served as Chairman of Xinmeng Technology before the reported move to Rongxin.