It’s Only Common Sense: Be the Vendor They Compare Everyone Else To
The Marketing Minute: If Your Marketing Budget Gets Cut in Half, Then What?
The global NAND Flash industry continued to benefit from AI infrastructure build-outs in 4Q25, according to TrendForce’s latest research. All in all, the combined revenue of the top five NAND flash suppliers sharply rose 23.8% QoQ to US$21.17 billion.
The primary growth driver was explosive demand for enterprise SSDs, fueled by large-scale AI server deployments by North American CSPs. Meanwhile, severe HDD shortages and extended lead times accelerated a shift in orders toward NAND solutions, which further tightened supply. The resulting imbalance worsened NAND shortages and pushed prices higher, directly boosting supplier revenues.
Looking ahead to 1Q26, persistent supply-demand imbalances are strengthening suppliers’ resolve to raise prices. TrendForce has therefore revised its forecast upward, now projecting overall NAND Flash prices to surge 85–90% QoQ in 1Q26, with industry revenue expected to expand further.
Samsung retained its top position with $6.6 billion in revenue, up 10% QoQ, though its market share slipped to 28%. While ASPs rose significantly, bit shipments declined sequentially due to a high base in the previous quarter and process transition losses.
SK Group (SK hynix and Solidigm) posted the strongest growth among the top five, with revenue jumping 47.8% QoQ to approximately $5.21 billion. This lifted the company’s market share to 22.1%, securing them second place. Shipment growth was driven primarily by demand for mobile NAND Flash and enterprise SSDs.
Kioxia ranked third, reporting revenue of $3.31 billion, up 16.5% QoQ. Both revenue and bit shipments reached record quarterly highs in 4Q25.
Micron placed fourth with revenue reaching almost $3.03 billion, up 24.8% QoQ. The company continues to expand QLC output while increasing shipments of products based on its ninth-generation (G9) NAND technology, positioning it for further bit output growth in 2026.
Similarly, SanDisk also recorded revenue of approximately $3.03 billion, up 31.1% QoQ, and ranking fifth. Benefiting from the broader NAND supply shortage, the company has aggressively expanded into the server segment—historically a weaker area—leading to substantial growth in its data center business.
TrendForce notes that with limited near-term NAND capacity expansion and surging AI demand, pricing momentum is expected to remain strong throughout 2026. Major suppliers are accelerating technology migrations and shifting product focus toward high-capacity QLC enterprise SSDs, such as 122 TB and 245 TB models, to meet the storage density and bandwidth requirements of generative AI workloads. Capacity allocation will increasingly prioritize server applications, further tightening supply for consumer products.
