China's YMTC has climbed to third place in global NAND flash shipments

Yangtze Memory Technologies has climbed to third place in global NAND flash shipments, according to Counterpoint Research's Q2 2026 memory and storage tracker. YMTC now holds a 14% share of the market, narrowly edging out Kioxia and sitting behind only Samsung at 25% and SK Hynix at 22%.

YMTC grew its bit shipments 22% year over year and 5% quarter over quarter, capitalising on widespread shortages while expanding supply to domestic OEMs. The company is currently mass-producing 267-layer 3D NAND using its Xtacking 4.0 architecture, with 300-plus-layer technology expected next year.

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Its combined production capacity currently sits at around 200,000 wafers per month across two fabs in Wuhan. A third facility is expected to come online later this year, adding another 100,000 wafers per month. Two additional fabs with 50,000 wafers per month of capacity each are also in the pipeline, which would take YMTC's total capacity to around 400,000 wafers per month, putting it in the same territory as Samsung's estimated 390,000 to 450,000 wafers per month.

Despite ranking third in bits shipped, YMTC sits fifth in revenue, trailing Micron and Kioxia. The difference comes largely from its current product mix, with YMTC's output still concentrated in consumer applications rather than the higher-margin enterprise SSD market, where data centre demand is driving prices and profits to record levels.

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Enterprise SSDs accounted for 48% of total NAND bits shipped in Q2 2026 and are expected to cross 50% before the end of the year. YMTC has said it plans to shift more production toward enterprise SSDs over the coming quarters to close that revenue gap.

Counterpoint analyst MS Hwang noted that a 15% market share is considered the minimum threshold for a NAND manufacturer to self-fund its capital expenditure for future growth, putting YMTC within striking distance of that level.

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The company is also preparing for an IPO on mainland China, which would require regular financial disclosures and give the industry a clearer picture of its financial position. YMTC is projected to pull further ahead of Kioxia in 2027 and 2028.