Samsung and SK Hynix Ramp Up NAND Capacity in China, Xi'an and Dalian Factory Investments to Land Before Next Year
Nashnova编辑部
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are simultaneously accelerating NAND flash expansion in China, with new equipment investments at their Xi'an and Dalian fabs set to complete by next year — driven directly by surging AI-server demand for advanced storage. This means China-based lines are being repositioned as core mass-production bases for cutting-edge NAND.
What is Samsung expanding at its Xi'an fab?
Samsung has begun converting its Xi'an X2 line to V9 NAND — the latest generation, built on a 280-layer stack architecture. Target monthly capacity: 40,000–50,000 wafers.
The supplementary investment focuses on additional etch-process equipment. In plain terms = NAND stacks storage cells hundreds of layers high, and etching is the step that cuts ultra-deep channel holes through all those layers — the more layers, the harder the precision.
Equipment purchase orders are expected by year-end; the supplementary spending kicks in during H2 next year, with the ramp proceeding in phases.
How is SK Hynix's Dalian fab progressing?
SK Hynix began equipment investment for a NAND product upgrade at its Dalian Fab 2 starting in Q3 this year.
The target is roughly 30,000 wafers per month, with spending continuing into next year.
This means → the two Korean chipmakers are expanding in China on a closely synchronized timeline, jointly positioning their Chinese lines as key pillars for advanced NAND mass production.
Why are they doubling down now?
The direct driver is rapid growth in demand for high-end NAND from AI servers. Both AI training and inference require large-capacity, high-speed storage — pushing advanced NAND into a tight supply-demand position.
Both companies moving at once reflects a shared industry read: the global supply gap for advanced NAND cannot be closed with existing capacity alone.
Whether this expansion wave effectively fills that gap will be the critical test of both companies' capacity strategies.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.