- MLC NAND now serves exclusively industrial, automotive, medical and networking equipment
- Samsung’s exit leaves MLC supply gaps that competitors partially fill
- TLC and QLC increasingly meet consumer and enterprise storage demand
As storage technologies evolve to meet the growing demand for data, the trajectory of NAND flash is undergoing a distinct shift.
New TrendForce data indicates that Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND Flash is gradually moving away from traditional storage markets and toward narrowly defined niches.
Demand remains concentrated in industrial control systems, automotive electronics, medical equipment and network infrastructure, where long qualification cycles and predictable behavior trump profitability.
Major suppliers reduce their exposure
The segment currently controlling demand prioritizes endurance and continuity of supply, but its overall growth prospects remain limited.
As a result, MLC no longer aligns with the volume-driven economics of the SSD market, especially as capacity needs continue to rapidly evolve.
Strategic exits from major NAND manufacturers are primarily driving the contraction in MLC supply: Samsung decided to discontinue MLC products, with final shipments scheduled for mid-2026, eliminating the largest contributor from the market.
Kioxia, SK hynix and Micron followed by largely limiting their production to existing contractual obligations.
Trend strength estimates that global MLC NAND capacity will decrease by 41.7% year-on-year in 2026.
This reduction reflects a deliberate reallocation of capital toward advanced TLC (Triple-Level Cell) and QLC (Quad-Level Cell) processing technologies rather than a short-term supply disruption.
As international suppliers withdraw, companies focused on embedded and high-reliability memory are gaining relative influence.
Macronix, traditionally associated with NOR Flash, has shifted some capacity to MLC NAND to serve customers facing supply gaps, reducing global NOR Flash production while increasing supply concentration.
Trend strength suggests that this change could provide firmer pricing support for mid- to high-density NOR Flash products.
It will also likely end years of pressure caused by excess manufacturing capacity in the USB drive market.
The rapid decline in MLC production, combined with the absence of replacement capacity, has triggered early volume commitments from the end of the first quarter of 2025.
Buyers accelerated their purchases to ensure long-term availability, leading to sharp price increases that persisted.
While these terms benefit remaining vendors in the near term, they reinforce MLC as a legacy technology rather than a scalable foundation for future storage.
As MLC recedes, TLC and QLC are absorbing more and more demand from the consumer and enterprise segments.
Their cost-per-bit advantages align with growing capacity expectations driven by data-intensive workloads and the expansion of 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 which suggests that this may not become viable until petabyte-class SSD capacities are economically justified.
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