Tsinghua Unigroup, a state-controlled Chinese conglomerate, has merged its memory chip business with XMC (Wuhan Xinxin Manufacturing Corp.), a government-run NOR flash chipmaker, to establish a 18.9 billion RMB (US$2.8 billion; US$1=$ 6.7 RMB) new entity, called Changjiang Storage Co., in Wuhan, China, reported China Times on July 27. XMC began operations in 2008 and is now a leader in NAND flash industry in China, with a new 3D NAND flash facility planning to begin operation in 2018. The merge is expected to create synergy for the Chinese NAND flash industry as XMC has considerable experience in production while Tsinghua Unigroup can provide funding and M&A strategies.