Nanya Technology is pouring money into new DRAM fabrication plants at a pace that would make most chipmakers nervous. The Taiwanese memory manufacturer plans to boost its 2027 capital expenditure to over NT$200 billion, roughly $6.2 billion, a fourfold increase from its 2026 budget of more than NT$50 billion.
A $15 billion bet on next-gen memory
The centerpiece of Nanya’s expansion is a new 12-inch DRAM fabrication plant in the Taishan District of New Taipei City. Groundbreaking took place back in 2022, with the total investment projected at NT$480 billion, approximately $15 billion spread across the full buildout.
The first phase targets a monthly production capacity of 30,000 wafers by 2028. Eventually, the facility is expected to scale to 45,000 wafers per month. The fab will utilize 10nm-class technology for next-generation DDR products.
Beyond the Taishan plant itself, Nanya has committed NT$346.6 billion, around $10.7 billion, specifically to EUV-equipped DRAM production spanning 2026 through 2029. EUV lithography, or extreme ultraviolet lithography, allows manufacturers to print circuit patterns at incredibly small scales, which translates to denser, faster, and more power-efficient memory chips.
Revenue numbers that look like typos
Nanya’s financial results from Q2 2026 help explain the confidence behind this spending spree. The company reported quarterly revenue of NT$82.55 billion, a 684% increase compared to the same period a year earlier.
Net income was even more dramatic: NT$50.19 billion, representing a 1,324% jump year-over-year. Gross margins hit 79.5% for the quarter.
The year-over-year comparisons look especially staggering because Nanya, like much of the memory industry, was coming off a brutal cyclical downturn. DRAM prices cratered in 2023 and early 2024 as post-pandemic demand cooled and inventories swelled.
Why DRAM matters for the AI buildout
Every AI data center being constructed by the likes of Microsoft, Google, and Amazon needs enormous quantities of high-bandwidth memory. Training large language models and running inference workloads are memory-intensive operations. Nanya’s Taishan facility won’t reach its first-phase production target until 2028, meaning the supply response lags demand by a significant margin.
Competitive landscape and what to watch
Nanya has historically been the smallest of the major DRAM producers, trailing far behind Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron in both capacity and technology. The EUV investment is particularly significant because it represents Nanya’s attempt to close that technology gap.
The risk, of course, is cyclicality. Nanya’s 79.5% gross margin reflects peak-cycle conditions. If AI spending decelerates or if all major producers bring new capacity online simultaneously, prices could fall sharply.