Samsung has recovered the operation rate of its fab in Xian, China to the 70% range, TheElec has learned.
The fab is the South Korean tech giant’s only plant aboard that manufactures memory chips and accounts for 40% of its total NAND output.
The operation rate of the fab at one time fell to 20% to 30% last year during the second half of last year, sources said, the fab's lowest point since memory chip prices and demand began to fall in late 2022.
The recent recovery of the operation rate was spurred by the surge in demand for smartphones in China caused by increased nationalist sentiment, the sources said.
NAND prices began to recover in October last year and have so far increased every month since then.
Due to the increased operation rate, Samsung is also ordering more components for NAND from its South Korean suppliers.
The South Korean tech giant has asked its suppliers to increase their inventory levels in response to its increased order, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Some of these suppliers, such as Dongjin Semichem and Soulbrain, are seeing their shipment of NAND parts to Samsung surge, they said.
This contrasts with competitor SK Hynix, which is still lowering its NAND production output, they added.
