China’s premier memory-maker YMTC struggles amid chokehold of US sanctions — outdated chipmaking tools and lack of new tools have hampered production and development of new tech

Although YMTC produces highly competitive 3D NAND devices, it faces major difficulties winning market share. This is because it struggles to expand its production capacity due to U.S. export restrictions on advanced tools made by American companies, according to SisaJournal-E. As a result, YMTC’s market share fell below 5% in the second quarter of 2025, reversing years of steady growth.

“YMTC had been steadily increasing its market share until a few years ago, but that is no longer the case,” said…