Chinese chipmaker YMTC surges to third place globally in NAND shipments, closing the gap on industry giants despite ongoing US export restrictions, signalling a shift in the global semiconductor landscape.
Yangtze Memory Technologies is advancing quickly in the global NAND flash memory market, a sign that China’s top memory chipmaker is becoming more competitive even under U.S. export restrictions. Counterpoint Research said YMTC ranked third worldwide in the second quarter, behind Samsung and SK hynix but ahead of Micron and Kioxia, with a 14% share of shipments.
The result matters because NAND is one of Micron’s two main memory businesses and remains central to storage products used in servers, smartphones and PCs. Counterpoint’s data suggests YMTC has now moved back in front of Kioxia after trailing it in earlier months, while the Chinese group continues to close the gap on the established leaders.
Counterpoint analyst MS Hwang said YMTC is expected to widen its lead in 2027 and 2028. He also said a 15% market share is roughly the minimum a memory maker needs to finance its own capital spending for future expansion, underlining how close YMTC is to a scale threshold that can support more aggressive growth.
The company’s rise comes as it prepares for a mainland China listing, following the recent debut of CXMT, the Chinese DRAM specialist. Other reports this year have pointed to fast share gains for YMTC, with one estimate putting it at 13% of the global NAND market in the first quarter and saying the company is targeting 15% by the end of 2026, including through a trial production line built with Chinese-made tools. That expansion highlights both the strength of AI-related memory demand and Beijing’s push to reduce reliance on foreign semiconductor equipment.
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