China’s YMTC becomes third-largest NAND supplier, passing Micron

China's Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. has risen to become the third-largest NAND flash supplier in the world, overtaking Micron ↘ 2.22%, Kioxia, and Sandisk in shipment volume during the second quarter of 2026, according to data from Counterpoint Research published this week.

A Rapid Climb

YMTC captured 14% of global NAND bit shipments in Q2 2026, growing 22% year-over-year and 5% quarter-over-quarter, according to TechPowerUp, citing the Counterpoint tracker. That places the Chinese firm ahead of Micron's 13% and Sandisk's 11%, and level with or slightly above Kioxia. SK Hynix ↘ 3.12%, boosted by a 40% jump in subsidiary Solidigm's shipments, held second place at 22%, while Samsung retained the top position with 25% — down from 32% a year earlier as it prioritized high-margin DRAM production.club386+1

The gains were fueled by a structural shift in the NAND market. AI workloads migrating from training to inference pushed enterprise SSD demand to 48% of total bits shipped in the quarter, nearly double the level a year prior. YMTC capitalized on ongoing supply tightness driven by data center buildouts, growing its share from just 8% in Q1 2025 to its current level over five consecutive quarters of expansion.techpowerup+3

Revenue Lags Volume

Despite its third-place ranking by shipments, YMTC sits fifth in revenue share because its product mix skews toward consumer electronics rather than the higher-margin enterprise segment favored by Micron and Kioxia. The company plans to shift toward enterprise SSDs in the second half of 2026, with products like its PE522 PCIe Gen 5.0 drive offering up to 25.6TB capacity.club386

Broader Chinese Memory Push

YMTC's ascent comes alongside China's broader push into memory semiconductors. ChangXin Memory Technologies, the country's leading DRAM maker, debuted on Shanghai's STAR Market on July 27 in Asia's largest IPO of 2026, raising approximately $8.6 billion and surging more than 460% on its first day of trading. Analysts have flagged both companies as growing competitive threats to Micron's market position in NAND and DRAM.caixinglobal+4

Korean rivals Samsung and SK Hynix have acknowledged that the pace of Chinese memory firms' catch-up "has exceeded expectations," according to TechNode.technode