Samsung and SK Hynix are upgrading their China fabs to make advanced chips

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are planning upgrades at their Chinese NAND plants to make advanced memory and meet AI data-center demand. Samsung aims to convert its Xi’an plant to 286-layer V9 NAND by 2027, ramping to 5,000 wafers a month by December 2026 and 40,000 by December 2027; the site makes about 200-layer chips and accounts for roughly 40% of Samsung’s global NAND output. SK Hynix is upgrading its Dalian plant beyond 192 layers toward 240 or more. The moves follow rival Yangtze Memory Technologies’ 38.5% share of China’s NAND market in the second quarter of 2026, ahead of Samsung’s 33.5% and SK Hynix’s 17%; both firms need annual U.S. licenses for American equipment at the plants.