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Seoul, Oktober 23, 2026 – Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are moving forward with plans to upgrade their Chinese semiconductor plants, aiming to produce more advanced NAND memory chips despite mounting regulatory pressure from Washington.
The strategy underscores both the surging demand for high capacity chips driven by artificial intelligence and the intensifying competition from China’s Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC).
Samsung’s Xi’an facility, which currently manufactures around 200 layer NAND, is set for a major overhaul under “Project Monami.”
The company intends to transition production to its 286 layer V9 NAND by 2027, with output targets of 5,000 wafers per month by late 2026 and 40,000 wafers per month by the end of 2027.
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The Xi’an plant is critical, accounting for roughly 40 percent of Samsung’s global NAND supply.
SK Hynix is pursuing a similar path at its Dalian plant, acquired from Intel in 2021. The site now produces 192 layer NAND but is being upgraded to 240-layer chips, with research underway on designs exceeding 300 layers.
The facility is operated by Solidigm, SK Hynix’s U.S. subsidiary, which is preparing for an initial public offering to strengthen its position in the global memory market.
These moves come against the backdrop of U.S. export controls introduced in 2022, which require annual licenses for installing American made equipment in China. In 2025, Washington signaled it would not approve licenses for capacity expansion or technology upgrades, raising uncertainty for Korean firms.
Both Samsung and SK Hynix insist their upgrades comply with U.S. rules, emphasizing that they involve process improvements rather than new capacity.
The urgency is clear YMTC has rapidly expanded its market share, capturing 38.5 percent of China’s NAND market in the second quarter of 2026, surpassing Samsung’s 33.5 percent and SK Hynix’s 17 percent.
NAND chips are essential for smartphones, PCs, and increasingly for AI data centers, making technological leadership vital.
For Samsung and SK Hynix, the upgrades represent a defensive strategy modernizing existing fabs to retain market share in China while navigating geopolitical constraints.
Success will depend on continued U.S. licensing approvals and the ability to scale production within regulatory limits, as both companies seek to balance compliance with competitiveness in the world’s largest NAND market.
