Samsung and SK Hynix are rebuilding their Chinese memory plants to turn out denser NAND flash, according to four people familiar with the plans. The targets are twofold: feed AI demand, and hold ground against a domestic competitor that keeps winning share.
Samsung’s Xian site, roughly 40 percent of its global NAND output, currently produces stacks near 200 layers. Under an internal project named Monami, after the French for “my friend,” the fab is being converted to 286-layer V9 parts, with one source putting the ramp at 5,000 wafers a month in December 2026 and 40,000 by December 2027. SK Hynix is aiming at 240 layers or more in Dalian and may seek clearance to study designs above 300 layers.
The licence wall
Installing American etch tools in China requires a US permit renewed annually. Washington’s export regulator, the Bureau of Industry and Security, signaled in 2025 that approvals would not come for higher technology or bigger throughput. Samsung says its work complies with US rules and adds neither capacity nor buildings. Neither company said how much Washington has actually cleared.
Why keep pushing
Yangtze Memory Technologies held 38.5 percent of China’s NAND market in the second quarter, a figure that grew while the Korean fabs sat still. Stacking more layers raises bits per wafer and pushes cost per gigabyte down, which makes falling behind on layer count an expensive position in the largest memory market on earth. Neither firm has much choice but to try. The open question is how much of the upgrade the licence regime lets them finish.
