Memory · Comparison

Compare the Memory Companies, Side by Side

Every company we have written up, in one table, using only what each one publishes itself. The chip makers come first, then the brands that buy their output and build it into the sticks you can actually purchase.

Stuck at any point? Ask an AI about this page →

18 of 23 written Company statements only Checked September 2026

The chip makers

Companies that own fabs and make the memory dies. The HBM column is the competitive axis here: high-bandwidth memory is where the AI money is, and only three companies are really in it.

Company	DRAM	NAND	HBM position
Samsung	DDR5, GDDR7, LPDDR6 (announced, no production status stated); 1c node	9th-gen V-NAND; V10 announced	HBM4 in mass production, shipped for NVIDIA Vera Rubin
SK hynix	DDR5 on 1c; MRDIMM, SOCAMM2, LPDDR6 (listed, no specifications published)	321-high 4D NAND; Solidigm SSDs	HBM4 in mass shipment since Q2 2026; completed the first TSV HBM in 2013, with AMD
Micron	DDR5 on 1-gamma (EUV); MRDIMM, SOCAMM2, GDDR7	G9 3D NAND — layer count not published by Micron; Micron 9650 PCIe Gen6 SSD	HBM4 in high-volume production for NVIDIA Vera Rubin
Kioxia	None — makes no DRAM; 3D DRAM is research only	BiCS FLASH gen 10 (332 layers) sampling since July 2026; gen 8, 218 layers, is the volume part; CBA bonding	None — competes with fast flash (GP1, XL-FLASH, CXL) instead
SanDisk	None — makes no DRAM	BiCS10 (332 layers) sampling since July 2026, with CBA bonding; BiCS8, 218 layers, is the volume part; UltraQLC enterprise SSDs	None — developing High Bandwidth Flash with SK hynix, being standardised through OCP; spec at v0.7.0 and nothing shipping
YMTC	None — makes no DRAM	X4 (Gen5) TLC and QLC on Xtacking 4.0; layer counts not published since 2020	None, and no stated AI memory strategy
CXMT	DDR5, LPDDR4X/5/5X/6; G5 platform — 11.95nm active-area half-pitch, a measured feature rather than a node name	None — makes no NAND	Not mentioned in any CXMT document, including its 2026 prospectus
Nanya Technology	DDR2 through DDR5 and LPDDR5X; 1B node, 1C/1D/1E with EUV coming	None — makes no NAND	No standard HBM; customized ultra-high-bandwidth memory for edge AI, already earning revenue, with a JV (Nanya 80%) announced but not yet incorporated
Winbond Electronics	Niche DDR2/DDR3/DDR4 and LPDDR under Customized Memory Solution; 20nm now, 16nm from 2027	World number one in NOR Flash on 23% share; SLC NAND 512Mb to 8Gb on its own 24nm and 32nm	None — CUBE for edge AI instead, and it argues HBM3E is unsuitable there on power
Etron Technology	Specialty DRAM, SDR SDRAM through DDR4-3200 and LPDDR4X; plus its own RPC DRAM	No NAND fabrication — Etron is fabless; SPI NAND and e.MMC sit in their own sales division alongside memory ICs	None, and no HBM claim; an announced but still un-incorporated JV with Nanya (Etron 20%) for customized ultra-high-bandwidth memory
PSMC (Powerchip)	DRAM foundry on 2x-nanometer processes for other companies; no own-brand DRAM	Flash foundry services for other companies; no own-brand flash	None of its own — under the Micron fab sale it is to provide HBM/PWF foundry services; what that covers inside an HBM stack is not specified

The module and drive brands

Companies that buy dies from the makers above. For these, the third column answers the question that matters most and that almost nobody asks: whose chips are inside, and will the brand tell you?

Brand	DRAM	NAND	Whose chips are inside
Kingston Technology	Modules only — DDR5 and DDR4, FURY, ValueRAM, Server Premier, CAMM2	SSDs and flash built on bought NAND; no NAND fabrication	None — buys DRAM from Micron, SK hynix and Samsung, and names all three
Crucial (discontinued)	Crucial-branded DDR5 modules, including the Crucial Pro range, made by Micron; Micron announced its exit from the consumer business in December 2025	MX, BX, P and T series SSDs and X-series portables, made by Micron	None — but Micron exited the Crucial consumer business to redirect capacity to data-centre and HBM customers
Corsair	Modules only — DDR5 and DDR4: Vengeance, Dominator Platinum and Titanium, SHUGO, CUDIMM, SODIMM, WS ECC RDIMM	SSDs and flash storage built on bought-in NAND; no wafer fab	None — its annual report names Samsung, Micron and SK hynix as the producers of the DRAM ICs it uses, bought largely through distributors
Patriot Memory	Modules only — Viper Xtreme 5, Viper Steel 5 Infinite, Viper Elite 5, Viper Venom, plus Signature Line value, ECC, RDIMM and CUDIMM	SSDs, USB drives and memory cards on bought NAND; ACPI covers industrial flash	None — and alone among the module brands here, Patriot names no DRAM supplier anywhere
Lexar	Modules only — ARES and THOR gaming lines, plain DDR5 UDIMM and SODIMM, legacy DDR4; 12 of 114 products	Cards, USB drives and SSDs on bought NAND; its owner packages and tests flash at a Suzhou base	None — names SK hynix in a certification and on its ARES RGB 2nd Gen page; its owner runs no wafer fab
PNY Technologies	Modules only — XLR8 Gaming, XLR8 Gaming EPIC-X RGB, Performance and Low Profile, DDR5 and DDR4; 21 results, no ECC or RDIMM page despite announcing RDIMM	SSDs, USB drives and memory cards on bought NAND; no fabrication of any kind	None — and PNY names no DRAM supplier anywhere, though it does resell NVIDIA data-centre GPUs and DGX systems
Silicon Power	Modules only — XPOWER Cyclone, Storm, Pulse and Zenith gaming lines including a DDR5 CUDIMM, plain SP UDIMM and SODIMM back to DDR3, plus DDR5 and DDR4 RDIMM; 23 families	SSDs, portable drives, USB drives and memory cards on bought NAND; runs no wafer fab	None — and no DRAM supplier named anywhere; its enterprise RDIMM release says only "original high-quality DRAM chips"

Where it is made, and what it costs

Plants and published pricing, for every company in both groups. Read the pricing column carefully: most of these companies publish no price at all, and the ones that do often publish it in one country only.

Company	Fabs and plants	Published pricing
Samsung	Korea (Giheung, Hwaseong, Pyeongtaek, plus Cheonan and Onyang) and Xi’an, China	No chip prices published; consumer SSDs are priced — a 1TB 9100 PRO launched at $199.99 in March 2025
SK hynix	Icheon and Cheongju, Korea; Wuxi and Dalian, China; assembly and test in Chongqing; HBM packaging in Indiana from 2029	No chip prices published; only consumer SSD launch prices — Gold P31 500GB at $79.99, an older PCIe 3.0 drive
Micron	Idaho, Virginia, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, China; assembly and test in India and Malaysia	No chip prices published; announced its exit from the Crucial consumer business in December 2025, shipping to February 2026
Kioxia	Yokkaichi and Kitakami, Japan, jointly with Sandisk through Flash Ventures	Publishes no prices at all, not even for consumer SSDs
SanDisk	No wafer fabs; ~50% of Flash Ventures output from Kioxia’s Japanese plants; own assembly and test in Penang	Consumer MSRPs published; enterprise SSDs and raw flash not priced publicly
YMTC	Wuhan, Hubei — count, capacity and investment not published	No prices published; consumer sales via JD and Tmall flagship stores
CXMT	Three 300mm fabs across Hefei and Beijing; capacity not published	No prices published; revenue disclosed since the 2026 listing
Nanya Technology	Taishan, New Taipei City; Fab 5A wafer input from 2H 2027, ramping toward a planned 45,000 WSPM	No chip prices published; quarterly ASP movement disclosed
Winbond Electronics	Two 12-inch fabs, Taichung and Kaohsiung; capacity not published	No chip prices published; blended ASP up about 100% QoQ in 2Q26
Etron Technology	None — fabless, and it names no foundry partner	No prices, no margins, no ASP commentary and no guidance published
PSMC (Powerchip)	Hsinchu Science Park and Jhunan; fab count stated inconsistently on its own site	No price list; its president was reported at the Q2 2026 briefing as raising DRAM wafer prices 45% from July
Kingston Technology	No wafer fabs; own module plants — Fountain Valley, Taiwan, Ireland, and a Kingston-stated Shanghai site; 63+ SMT lines	No prices published on its product pages; lifetime warranty on memory instead
Crucial (discontinued)	None of its own; everything was made in Micron plants	Sold at retail; Micron published no price list, and its final retail prices are not on the record
Corsair	No wafer fabs; assembles, tests and packages nearly all its DRAM modules at its own facility in Taiwan	Publishes prices with a direct cart on its US store; the worldwide locale shows none. Limited lifetime warranty on memory
Patriot Memory	No wafer fabs; the group labels New Taipei City as its manufacturing and R&D centre	No price on its product pages as rendered, and no direct sales — a Where to Buy locator routes to retailers. Lifetime means as long as Patriot still makes the part, with substitution afterwards; its own warranty table lists current DRAM only as Limited
Lexar	No wafer fabs; owner Longsys runs a Zhongshan industrial park and a Suzhou packaging and test base	No price on eleven of twelve memory pages as rendered; the THOR page shows an MSRP about five times street price, most likely a data error. Routes buyers to Amazon, Micro Center and Best Buy. Limited lifetime warranty, 10 years in Germany and wherever lifetime cover does not apply
PNY Technologies	No wafer fabs, and no plant, city or country named for module assembly or testing anywhere on its site	Publishes its own prices with a cart on the US store; category pages and the India site show none. Warranty is lifetime in the US and APAC but 10 years in EMEA and India
Silicon Power	No wafer fabs, but unusually it publishes a factory address — Datong Rd., Xizhi District, New Taipei City, on the same block as its RMA address	No prices published; a country-by-country dealer directory routes to retailers. Limited lifetime warranty ending at a product life cycle SP itself determines

Four cautions before you compare

A maker and a brand are not the same kind of company. Three firms make most of the world’s DRAM. Everything else on the shelf is their silicon on somebody else’s circuit board, and the brand’s real product is sorting and testing.

“No price published” is the normal case, not an omission. Almost every company here publishes none, so this site never guesses one. Where a company does publish a price, it is often on one country’s store only.

Whose chips are inside can change without the part number changing. At least one brand states this outright. A matched kit bought today and a second stick bought next year may not contain the same silicon.

“Lifetime warranty” does not mean the same thing at every brand. At some it is the owner’s lifetime; at one it is the product’s production life, after which you get a substitute. The individual guides quote each company’s own definition.

Two explainers pick up where this table stops. For what the speed on the box actually means, read XMP, EXPO and why your memory runs slower than the box says. For the third column above — whose chips are inside, and whether you can find out — read whose DRAM chips are actually inside your memory stick. And for the last column, where almost every brand offers a lifetime warranty and means something different by it, read what a memory lifetime warranty actually promises. Buying in India adds a further layer, covered in buying memory in India.