Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are upgrading their manufacturing plants in China to produce NAND flash memory chips with more than 200 layers. The retrofits target swelling demand for artificial intelligence hardware and push back against domestic rival Yangtze Memory Technologies Co, which recently took the top position in China’s memory market.

Yangtze Memory Technologies Co captured 38.5 percent of China’s NAND flash market during the second quarter, rising from 28 percent across all of 2025. That expansion pushed Samsung’s local market share down to 33.5 percent from 36 percent, while SK Hynix dropped to 17 percent from 20 percent.

Samsung runs its primary overseas memory fabrication site in the northwestern city of Xian. The complex accounts for roughly 40 percent of the South Korean group’s global NAND flash output and currently builds chips stacked to approximately 200 layers.

Under an internal project named Monami, Samsung is converting the Xian factory lines to produce 286-layer V9 NAND chips. The plant is scheduled to process 5,000 wafers monthly starting in December this year, stepping up to 40,000 wafers each month by December 2027. Samsung confirmed the plant updates are proceeding in compliance with Washington’s export regulations.

The upgrade is aimed at meeting growing demand from global customers, including those in the US. The company is not expanding production capacity or constructing new manufacturing facilities.

SK Hynix is pursuing a parallel upgrade at its site in Dalian in northeastern China. The facility currently manufactures 192-layer NAND chips, and the company plans to transition lines toward 240 layers or higher.

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