China's YMTC Push for No. 1 NAND Strategy Draws Attention to Samsung Electronics and SK hynix's Defense Plans

[Financial News] As China's Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., Ltd. (YMTC) sets its sights on becoming the world's No. 1 NAND maker, attention is turning to the defense strategies of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.
According to the industry on the 30th, market researcher Omdia recently projected that YMTC's NAND wafer output will rise by 486,000 wafers, from 2.01 million this year to 2.496 million next year. If Wuhan Plant 3 begins initial operations at the end of this year and enters full-scale production next year, output is expected to reach about 575,000 wafers. YMTC aims to start operations at Wuhan Plant 3 by year-end and then quickly build additional plants to more than double its production capacity.
By contrast, NAND output at Samsung Electronics and SK hynix is expected to remain largely flat through next year. Samsung Electronics' NAND wafer production is forecast to increase by just 75,000 wafers, from 4.77 million this year to 4.845 million next year.
SK hynix, including Solidigm, is also expected to raise output by 75,000 wafers over the same period, from 2.79 million to 2.865 million. YMTC is moving ahead with a much more aggressive expansion plan.
In the second quarter of this year, YMTC overtook KIOXIA Corporation to rank third in the NAND market for the first time by shipment volume. It still remains fifth in terms of revenue because its share of high-priced data center eSSD products is low, but the industry expects it to rapidly expand its market share as profitability improves with rising NAND prices.
During its recent initial public offering (IPO) preparations, YMTC set a goal of taking the top spot in the global NAND market as early as the end of next year. That amounts to a direct challenge to Samsung Electronics, the current No. 1, and SK hynix, which ranks second. Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are not expected to be able to begin major NAND capacity expansions until 2028 at the earliest, raising concerns over their market share. Samsung Electronics plans to produce NAND in part of the cleanroom space at Samsung Electronics Pyeongtaek Campus Plant 5, which is currently under construction. Operations are scheduled to begin in stages from 2027 through 2030. SK hynix has also finalized the investment scale for the Cheongju M17 project, with construction set to begin in February next year and the first cleanroom scheduled to open in December 2028.

 


[email protected] Jo Eun-hyo Reporter