NAND Flash Prices Surge Amid Delayed Capacity Expansion… Samsung Electronics & SK Hynix Go All-Out to Ramp Production
As NAND flash demand surges on the back of artificial intelligence (AI) industry growth, global NAND flash manufacturers including Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Kioxia are accelerating capacity expansion efforts. However, with Samsung and SK Hynix prioritizing DRAM capacity additions first, and Kioxia's expansion unlikely to meet demand in the near term, the consensus view is that NAND price increases will persist for the foreseeable future.
According to market research firm DRAMeXchange on April 17, the average contract price for commodity NAND products (128Gb 16Gx8 MLC, used in memory cards and USB drives) reached $17.73 last month, up 39.95% from $12.67 the prior month. Compared to $2.18 in January last year, this represents roughly an 8x increase. Demand has surged sharply, driven primarily by AI data centers, while NAND manufacturers' supply has failed to keep pace.
The AI-driven growth wave is exacerbating supply shortages not only in DRAM but also in NAND. Demand for NAND-based enterprise SSDs (eSSDs) has spiked as vast volumes of data must be stored throughout the process of training AI models and advancing inference capabilities. On top of this, the 4–6 year data center server refresh cycle is coinciding with the demand surge, compounding the supply crunch.
However, following 2–3 years of NAND market weakness during which global manufacturers executed production cuts, responding to the demand uptick has proven difficult. Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron in particular have been channeling resources toward DRAM production—where demand has exploded even more steeply—pushing NAND expansion down the priority list.
Market research firm TrendForce noted: "With NAND production capacity growth limited in the near term and AI-driven demand surging, price increases are expected to remain robust throughout the year."
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix plan to focus on securing additional space at their China-based NAND fabs this year. Samsung is understood to have completed process migration investment at its Xi'an Fab 1 and plans to ramp output in the second half of the year. Xi'an Fab 2 is reportedly reviewing a capacity expansion of approximately 40,000 wafer starts per month. SK Hynix is said to be undertaking new investment at its Dalian Fab 2 to expand capacity by up to 50,000 wafer starts per month.
Efforts are also reportedly underway to find additional space at new domestic production lines. Samsung's new P5 fab at the Pyeongtaek campus and SK Hynix's Y1 fab at the Yongin semiconductor cluster are both reviewing plans to add NAND production lines.
An industry official stated: "Korean memory companies are prioritizing DRAM and HBM capacity expansion, but with NAND demand also surging, addressing this has become urgent. Companies are working to secure space for production line expansion at both domestic and overseas fabs."
Overseas NAND manufacturers including Kioxia and Micron are also pushing hard on capacity expansion. Japan's Kioxia began executing expansion investment last year and aims to add approximately 30,000 wafer starts per month at its Yokkaichi fab this year. Micron's new Singapore NAND fab, where equipment investment has been committed, is set to begin construction in earnest this year, with volume production expected to commence in 2028.