Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC), China's largest NAND flash maker, has overtaken Japan's Kioxia and U.S.-based Micron Technology to become the world's third-largest NAND supplier by shipments. Riding demand from China's domestic market and artificial intelligence data centers, the company is expanding rapidly and closing in on global leaders Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) and SK hynix (000660.KS). YMTC, which has focused on commodity NAND products, is now moving into high-margin enterprise solid-state drives (SSDs), a shift expected to intensify competitive pressure on South Korea's memory chip industry.
YMTC's share of global NAND shipments reached about 17% in the second quarter, up 6 percentage points from 11% in the first quarter of last year, according to research firm Counterpoint on the 16th. That placed the company third worldwide behind Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, ahead of Kioxia and Micron. Excluding Solidigm, SK hynix's U.S. subsidiary, YMTC shipped more than SK hynix's main operations, which would make it the world's second-largest supplier.
Revenue is also climbing sharply. YMTC posted second-quarter revenue of 73.8 billion yuan, up about 63% from 45.2 billion yuan in the previous quarter. Its share of global NAND revenue rose to 14%. That trails Samsung Electronics at 28% and SK hynix at 19%, but is just 1 percentage point behind Micron's 15%.
YMTC's rapid growth rests on an expanding Chinese domestic market and its own chipmaking technology. The company has developed a process called Xtacking, which builds the memory cells that store data and the peripheral circuits that control them on separate wafers before bonding them together. Industry officials say the approach gives YMTC an advantage in producing high-density NAND using existing equipment, even under U.S. export controls on advanced chipmaking tools.
YMTC is also targeting the market for enterprise SSDs used in AI data centers. Counterpoint projects that server-related revenue, which was virtually nonexistent in 2024, will account for about 39% of the company's total revenue by 2028. The strategy calls for working with Huawei Technologies and SSD controller makers to expand into higher-margin products.
The company is pursuing an initial public offering to raise funds and is also moving into the DRAM market. YMTC recently applied to list on the STAR Market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange and plans to use the proceeds to expand development and pilot production of LPDDR5, a next-generation mobile DRAM. Over the longer term, it aims to lift wafer production capacity, including DRAM, to 500,000 units a month.
"The key question is whether YMTC can win actual product adoption from overseas customers, not just large clients in China," said Hwang Min-sung, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research. "That will be an important driver in challenging Samsung Electronics, the global leader."