- MLC NAND now exclusively serves industrial, automotive, medical and networking equipment
- Samsung’s exit leaves MLC supply gaps that competitors are partially filling
- TLC and QLC increasingly handle the storage needs of consumers and companies
As storage technologies evolve to meet growing data needs, the trajectory of NAND Flash memory is undergoing a distinct shift.
New TrendForce data has said that MLC (Multi-Level Cell) NAND Flash is steadily moving away from mainstream storage markets and into narrowly defined niches.
Demand remains concentrated in industrial control systems, automotive electronics, medical equipment and network infrastructure, where long qualification cycles and predictable behavior outweigh cost effectiveness.
Larger suppliers reduce exposure
The segment currently driving demand prioritizes endurance and supply continuity, but its overall growth prospects remain limited.
As a result, MLC is no longer aligned with the volume-driven economics of the SSD market, especially as capacity requirements continue to scale rapidly.
Strategic exits from major NAND manufacturers primarily drive the decline in MLC supply – Samsung decided to discontinue MLC products, with final shipments scheduled for mid-2026, removing the market’s largest contributor.
Kioxia, SK hynix and Micron have followed suit by limiting production largely to existing contractual obligations.
TrendForce estimates that global MLC NAND capacity will decline by 41.7% year-on-year in 2026.
This reduction reflects deliberate capital reallocation to advanced TLC (Triple-Level Cell) and QLC (Quad-Level Cell) process technologies rather than short-term supply disruptions.
As international vendors withdraw, companies focused on embedded and high-reliability memory are gaining relative influence.
Macronix, traditionally associated with NOR Flash, has shifted parts of its capacity towards MLC NAND to serve customers facing supply gaps, reducing global NOR Flash output and increasing supply concentration.
TrendForce suggests that this change may provide firmer price support for medium to high density NOR Flash products.
It is also likely to reverse years of pressure caused by excess production capacity across the flash drive market.
The rapid decline in MLC production, combined with the absence of replacement capacity, triggered early volume commitments beginning at the end of the first quarter of 2025.
Buyers sped up purchases to ensure long-term availability, leading to sharp price increases that have persisted.
While these conditions benefit the remaining vendors in the short term, they reinforce MLC as a legacy technology rather than a scalable foundation for future storage.
As MLC declines, TLC and QLC increasingly absorb demand across consumer and business segments.
Their cost-per-bit advantages align with increasing capacity expectations driven by data-intensive workloads and expanding AI tools.
Most modern SSD designs now favor these technologies, accepting trade-offs in endurance through controller-level management and workload optimization.
In this context, PLC (Penta-Level Cell NAND Flash) remains speculative with TrendForce suggests that it may not become viable until petabyte-class SSD capacities become economically viable.
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