Amid surging global demand for AI computing power, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are accelerating technology upgrades and capacity expansion at their NAND flash production bases in China. Both companies have finalized new investment plans, placing their facilities in Xi'an and Dalian back at the center of industry attention.

Samsung's V9 Line in Xi'an

Samsung Electronics has finalized plans for additional investment in its Xi'an facility over the next two years. Since the first half of 2026, the company has been upgrading its X2 production line for V9 NAND. The V9 employs approximately 286-layer stacking technology, representing one of the most advanced NAND products currently available, with an expected monthly output of 40,000 to 50,000 wafers. The core of this upgrade lies in the introduction of additional etching equipment—a critical process in NAND manufacturing that determines both stacking layer count and yield rates.

According to reports, Samsung plans to inject further investment starting in the second half of 2026 to ensure stable mass production of V9, with related equipment purchase orders expected to be finalized around year-end. The Xi'an plant currently accounts for approximately 35% to 40% of Samsung's global NAND capacity, making it the company's largest overseas memory chip production base. With the V9 line gradually coming online, the facility is expected to achieve co-production of both V8 and V9 by 2027.

SK Hynix's Dalian Expansion Resumes

Solidigm, SK Hynix's NAND subsidiary, resumed investment in Dalian's second factory in the first half of 2026. Ground was broken for this facility in 2022, but construction was subsequently halted due to weak market conditions and export control restrictions. Now, with explosive growth in demand for enterprise solid-state drives from AI data centers, the project has been restarted.

Per the current schedule, equipment is expected to begin arriving as early as November 2026, with a complete mass production system to be established in the first half of 2027. The second factory targets a monthly capacity of approximately 50,000 wafers. Combined with the existing 100,000-wafer capacity of the first factory, the Dalian base's total output will rise to 150,000 wafers per month—an overall increase of roughly 50%.

Reshaping the Memory Landscape

Data from TrendForce shows that NAND flash contract prices rose by 70% to 75% quarter-over-quarter in the second quarter of 2026, with enterprise SSDs now accounting for nearly half of global NAND shipments. Against this backdrop, the production expansion by Korean firms in China represents far more than a simple capacity increase—it reflects a deep strategic alignment with AI infrastructure demand.

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