YMTC grabbed third place in global NAND shipments in Q2, overtaking Micron and Kioxia. A 15% share is the minimum for a memory maker to fund its own R&D, Counterpoint said.
BEIJING – Yangtze Memory Technologies grabbed third place in global NAND flash shipments during the second quarter, overtaking U.S. rival Micron and Japan's Kioxia, according to Counterpoint Research data released Wednesday.
The company, known as YMTC, held a 14% share of the NAND market by shipments. It trailed only South Korea's Samsung and SK hynix in the segment. NAND chips, which retain data when devices are powered off, account for about one-fourth of Micron's revenue. DRAM, the faster and costlier memory chips, make up the rest.
YMTC narrowly beat Kioxia a year ago but lost ground in subsequent quarters, Counterpoint Research Director MS Hwang said. The latest quarter marks a turn.
"YMTC is projected to pull further ahead in 2027 and 2028. From that perspective, YMTC achieving third place this quarter carries significant weight," Hwang said. He noted that a 15% share is the minimum needed for a memory maker to fund its own capital expenditures for future growth.
YMTC is preparing to go public in mainland China, following the blockbuster debut of CXMT, a DRAM-focused Chinese memory company. CXMT held 7% of the DRAM market in the second quarter, landing in fourth place behind Micron, SK hynix and Samsung, a separate Counterpoint report showed this month.
The broader memory market has hit record sales. DRAM revenue reached nearly $100 billion in the first quarter and NAND revenue hit about $46 billion, Counterpoint said.
Despite its gains in shipment share, YMTC still trails Micron and Kioxia in NAND revenue, according to the research firm. YMTC sells more heavily into consumer applications than into data centers, a segment expected to consume half of all NAND chips by the end of 2026.
SK hynix, meanwhile, is resuming investment at a NAND production facility in the Chinese coastal city of Dalian after a four-year pause, Korean media reported this week. SK hynix did not respond to a request for comment.
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