Samsung is ramping up its V-NAND flash memory production to meet the surging storage needs of Nvidia's AI infrastructure. This shift matters because it redirects a significant portion of global NAND capacity toward enterprise AI chips, potentially tightening supply for consumer PC storage in the near term. The company is balancing high-volume manufacturing of its current 9th-gen V-NAND with the rollout of its 10th-gen V10 architecture.
Samsung ramps V-NAND output to supply Nvidia AI infrastructure
The core of this expansion is Samsung's 10th-generation V-NAND, known internally as V10. This new architecture stacks approximately 400 layers of flash memory, a significant jump from the 286 layers found in the previous V9 generation. Samsung reports that V10 increases storage density by more than 50% compared to V9. To achieve this density, the company uses molybdenum for wiring instead of the traditional tungsten, which reduces wiring thickness by 30 to 40 percent.
- V9 Yield Rate: >80%
- V10 Architecture: ~400 layers
- V10 Storage Density Increase: >50% vs V9
- V10 Wiring Material: Molybdenum
- V10 Wiring Thickness Reduction: 30-40%
Samsung is simultaneously expanding its 9th-generation V-NAND (V9) production. The company allocates roughly 60 percent of its monthly V-NAND output to V9 products. Despite the focus on newer technologies, V9 maintains a stable yield rate of over 80 percent. Samsung produces more than 100,000 V-NAND wafers per month in total, with the majority currently dedicated to the V9 line to support existing market demands.
Looking ahead, Samsung is accelerating research and development for its 11th-generation V-NAND, or V11. The company targets a stack height of 400 to 500 layers for V11 and has begun trial production. Scale for V11 is expected to double in the second half of the year. This progression ensures Samsung can meet the escalating capacity requirements of Nvidia's Context Memory Storage (CMX) systems, which require 9,600TB of storage per unit.
Industry estimates suggest that demand for CMX NAND will jump from 35 million terabytes in 2026 to over 100 million terabytes in 2027. This massive increase in enterprise storage demand is the primary driver behind Samsung's production strategy. Analysts project that this shift could squeeze supply in the consumer PC SSD market as Samsung prioritizes AI infrastructure. Samsung's 2026 profit is expected to hit a historic high due to this strong AI storage demand.
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