Yangtze Memory Technologies, or YMTC, ranked third globally in NAND bit shipments in the second quarter with a 14% share, behind Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, as artificial intelligence inference demand drove enterprise solid-state drives to 48% of total NAND bit shipments, Counterpoint Research said. Samsung led with 25% and SK Hynix followed with 22%, while YMTC overtook Kioxia for the first time by shipment volume but remained fifth by revenue because its product mix is still concentrated in consumer products rather than higher-priced data-center eSSDs. Counterpoint said industry revenue rose fivefold from a year earlier to a record high as consumer supply shortages intensified and average selling prices for consumer products reached an all-time high. YMTC's shipments increased 22% from a year earlier and 5% from the previous quarter as it expanded supplies to Chinese customers while mass-producing 267-layer 3D NAND and developing more than 300-layer NAND based on its Xtacking architecture. The company plans to shift its mix toward eSSDs in the second half of the year to reinforce its No. 3 shipment position.