Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix All Shift to Molybdenum: NAND Material Transition Opens New Equipment Market
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Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix are collectively replacing tungsten with molybdenum as the key conductive material in NAND flash. Equipment for molybdenum deposition alone could become a $1 billion-plus market by 2027 — This means a new equipment investment cycle, driven by a single material swap, is now underway.
Why are all three memory giants switching materials at once?
NAND flash stores data by stacking memory cell layers — the more layers, the higher the capacity. Once stacking passed 300 layers, tungsten began hitting its limits: it struggles to fill ultra-narrow, ultra-deep holes, and its resistance climbs sharply.
This means → tungsten cannot support the push toward 500 or even 1,000 layers. A material with lower resistivity and better thermal stability is required.
Molybdenum — a metal with lower resistivity and greater high-temperature stability than tungsten — is the replacement all three have chosen.
How far along is each chipmaker?
Samsung is furthest ahead, already mass-producing NAND products with molybdenum.
Micron has followed, adopting molybdenum in its own process.
SK Hynix plans to introduce molybdenum in its next-generation 375-layer NAND — different timelines, same direction.
What does a material change mean for the equipment market?
Switching materials is not just about buying a different raw input. Depositing molybdenum requires entirely new equipment, which directly drives orders for upstream tool makers.
Semiconductor research firm SemiAnalysis estimates that NAND molybdenum-deposition equipment alone could reach a market size of over $1 billion by 2027.
In plain terms = when the material changes, the entire equipment supply chain must upgrade — tool makers are the most immediate beneficiaries.
Is $1 billion the ceiling?
SemiAnalysis notes that NAND is only molybdenum's first wave of adoption. The material could eventually extend to DRAM (memory chips) and advanced logic chips (processors in phones and computers).
This means → if DRAM and logic chips also adopt molybdenum, the related equipment market will be far larger than $1 billion.
This is the single most important milestone to watch in the molybdenum transition — whether the second wave materializes will determine the true scale of this equipment cycle.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.