A report published by the company shows that Chinese SSD manufacturers are making waves in the SSD market due to powerful local demand and support TrendForce. However, despite increased competition from newer players, Kingston maintains its top position as the leading SSD module manufacturer in terms of market share, at an astonishing 34%.
The market share of leading SSD brands in 2022 increased to 72% in 2023 from 59% in 2022. The report said that these companies are leveraging their growing position and value to secure better prices for NAND Flash – from companies such as Samsung, Kioxia, Western Digital, SK Hynix and Micron. SSD sales in 2023 were 180 million, up 3.7% year-on-year, and can be attributed to fear of price increases in the second half, which encouraged more consumers to purchase SSDs in advance.
Kingston’s undisputed status is not surprising, as it is followed by Adata, which has a relatively tiny market share of 11%. Lexar, from Adata, is in third place, while two domestic Chinese manufacturers, Kimtigo (9%) and Biwin (7%), are fourth and fifth, respectively. Interesting fact: four of the ten companies mentioned are Chinese companies, which represent about a quarter (23%) of the market.
TrendForce analysis suggests that despite US sanctions, China has made huge strides in NVMe technology, moving from PCIe 4.0 to PCIe 5.0, increasing local NAND Flash production using competitive process nodes, and so on. Similarly, two relatively unknown brands (Kimtigo and Biwin) are mainly powered by Chinese customers and have almost 16% of the market.
While it may take years to achieve node parity with companies like TSMC, Intel and Samsung in China, the growth of the memory controller and NAND Flash industry promises a brighter future. Perhaps one day Chinese brands will be able to compete with the likes of Intel, Nvidia and AMD – more competition is always good for the consumer.
