NAND Flash revenues surge 84% in Q1 as AI demand drives shortage
The combined revenue of the world's five largest NAND Flash suppliers jumped 83.7% quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter of 2026, surpassing USD 38.9 billion. Surging demand for enterprise SSDs from AI infrastructure buildout, combined with constrained supply, pushed prices well above expectations, according to TrendForce.
The primary driver was an exponential increase in demand for enterprise SSDs from cloud service providers building out AI server infrastructure — both for high-speed data transmission and large-scale storage capacity. A structural shortage of traditional HDDs has compounded the effect, pushing a significant volume of storage orders toward QLC enterprise SSDs, according to a press release from TrendForce.
Samsung posted the strongest growth among the top five, with NAND Flash revenue rising 104.7% quarter-on-quarter to USD 13.51 billion — driven by quarterly contract pricing and a sharp increase in server-related bit shipments. Its market share expanded from 28 to 31.6%.
| Rank | Company | Revenue (USD millions) | Market share (%) | ||
| 1Q26 | QoQ (%) | 1Q26 | 4Q25 | ||
| 1 | Samsung | 13,510.1 | 104.7% | 31.6% | 28.0% |
| 2 | SK Hynix Group (SK hynix + Solidigm) | 7,533.6 | 44.6% | 17.6% | 22.1% |
| 3 | Kioxia | 5,960.0 | 80.0% | 13.9% | 14.1% |
| 4 | Micron | 5,950.0 | 96.7% | 13.9% | 12.8% |
| 4 | Sandisk | 5,950.0 | 96.7% | 13.9% | 12.8% |
| Total of top 5 | 38,903.7 | 83.7% | 90.9% | 89.9% | |
SK Hynix Group, including subsidiary Solidigm, ranked second with revenue of approximately USD 7.53 billion, up 44.6%. Solidigm contributed meaningfully through steady demand for high-capacity QLC enterprise SSDs. Kioxia ranked third with revenue of USD 5.96 billion, up 80%, retaining a 13.9% market share. Micron and SanDisk tied for fourth, each reporting USD 5.95 billion in NAND Flash revenue – up 96.7% quarter-on-quarter. SanDisk's data centre business alone grew more than 200%, reflecting its strategic shift toward high-value product offerings.
Looking ahead, TrendForce expects the supply-demand imbalance to persist through the second quarter and beyond. Major suppliers plan to add virtually no new production capacity in 2026, and AI-related demand shows no sign of easing. By year-end, NAND Flash products featuring 200 layers or more are expected to establish themselves as the market mainstream, with production resources remaining heavily weighted toward server storage applications.
Rising memory costs have begun to dampen smartphone and PC demand, but TrendForce expects brisk server orders to fill that gap and sustain elevated average selling prices through the remainder of the year.
