Chinese firm tops Micron and Kioxia in shipments of NAND memory chips

BEIJING — Yangtze Memory Technologies is rapidly gaining market share in a critical chip sector, according to Counterpoint Research.

The company, also known as YMTC, landed in third place by shipments globally in the second quarter, behind South Korea’s Samsung and SK hynix but beating out U.S. rival Micron and Japan’s Kioxia, Counterpoint data released Wednesday showed.

That’s when looking at the NAND memory segment, which contributes about one-fourth of Micron’s revenue. NAND chips retain data even when devices are powered off but are slower than DRAM memory chips, which operate more quickly — at a far higher cost, forming about three-fourths of Micron’s revenue.

YMTC reached third place with a 14% share, the report said. It narrowly beat Kioxia a year ago, but fell back behind in following months, Counterpoint Research Director MS Hwang said.

“YMTC is projected to pull further ahead in 2027 and 2028. From that perspective, YMTC achieving third place this quarter carries significant weight in the competitive landscape,” Hwang said.

He said a 15% market share is the minimum needed for a memory manufacturer to fund its own capital expenditures for future growth.

YMTC is preparing to go public in mainland China, following the blockbuster debut of DRAM-focused Chinese memory chip company CXMT last month.

CXMT held 7% of the DRAM market in the second quarter, in fourth place behind Micron, SK hynix and market leader Samsung, a separate Counterpoint report showed earlier this month.

Both DRAM and NAND memory chip markets have reached record sales, at nearly $100 billion and $46 billion, respectively, in the first quarter, according to Counterpoint.

Despite YMTC’s gains in shipments, the company still lagged behind Micron and Kioxia in terms of NAND chip revenue, the research firm said. It noted YMTC still sells more to consumer applications rather than data centers — a business expected to take half of all available NANDs by the end of 2026.

In order to ramp up NAND production, SK hynix is resuming investment at a facility in the Chinese coastal city of Dalian after a four-year pause, Korean media reported this week. SK hynix did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.