China’s Yangtze Memory Technologies, or YMTC, a Wuhan-based memory chipmaker, is expected to raise NAND wafer output by nearly 25% in 2027 to 2.5 million wafers from 2.01 million in 2026, driven largely by its third Wuhan plant.

Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are expected to post much smaller increases.

Omdia forecasts Samsung Electronics’ NAND output will edge up to 4.85 million wafers from 4.77 million, while SK hynix, including US subsidiary Solidigm, will increase to 2.87 million wafers from 2.79 million.

YMTC overtook Japan’s Kioxia by shipment volume in the second quarter to become the world’s third-largest NAND supplier.

It remained fifth by revenue, partly because it has less exposure to higher-priced enterprise solid-state drives, or SSDs.

The Korean suppliers have focused recent fab spending on advanced dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM, and high-bandwidth memory to meet AI demand rather than add NAND capacity.

YMTC was added to the US Entity List in 2022, which subjects certain exports to extra licensing requirements and could complicate its access to advanced chipmaking tools.

TrendForce has warned NAND supply growth could outpace demand in 2027, raising the risk that new capacity in the second half of the year will pressure prices if consumer electronics demand stays weak.

🔗 Source: The Korea Herald

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