Abstract:
Driven by the explosive demand for high-capacity flash memory in artificial intelligence infrastructure construction, the global NAND flash memory market will usher in astonishing growth in 2026. The latest report from market research organization Counterpoint Research shows that based on the high base of 90% month-on-month growth in the first quarter, the global NAND flash memory market size once again achieved 70% month-on-month growth in the second quarter.
This wave of growth momentum is almost entirely driven by the surge in selling prices, rather than increased shipments; in the second quarter of this year alone, the contract price of NAND flash memory increased by as much as 55% month-on-month, which is basically consistent with the previous 70% to 75% increase forecast given by TrendForce.
In terms of market structure, Samsung Electronics has maintained its No. 1 position in global revenue with its high average selling price, with a market share of 28% in the second quarter. Although it has narrowed slightly from 29% in the first quarter and 32% in the same period last year, it still maintains its leading advantage. SK Hynix ranked second with a market share of 19%, and Micron Technology ranked third with a market share of 15%.
The root cause of this round of price surge is the deep siphoning of NAND supply by artificial intelligence infrastructure, which has largely occupied the production capacity originally used for consumer-grade solid-state drives (SSD). As enterprise-level and ultra-large-scale cloud vendors are purchasing high-capacity flash memory on a large scale to deploy AI servers, major flash memory manufacturers have allocated production capacity to prioritize this part of the business. After all, the profit margin of enterprise-level products is much higher than that of retail products. This structural tilt on the supply side directly reduces the available production capacity of consumer-grade SSDs, causing the price of consumer-grade SSDs to remain high while overall shipments remain stable.
It is worth noting that Chinese flash memory manufacturer Yangtze Memory Technology Co., Ltd. (YMTC) has performed well in this round of changes. As the top three storage giants shift their focus to more profitable enterprise-level large-scale orders, Yangtze Storage has actively taken on overflow market shipments. Its market share has risen sharply from 9% in the same period last year to 14% in the second quarter of this year, making it one of the most high-profile manufacturers in the market.
In terms of industry prospects, major institutions and industry analysts generally predict that since the construction and commissioning of new NAND flash memory capacity often takes several years, and the procurement demand in the AI field currently shows no signs of slowing down, the supply and demand relationship and price stability in the global flash memory market are not expected to appear until 2027.
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