“We said in early 2025 that roughly $40 billion in conversion spending would be required over several years to enable existing NAND installed wafer capacity to produce devices with more than 200 layers. We now anticipate that this conversion will be pulled forward, with the majority of spending occurring before the end of calendar year 2027.”

Archer attributed the acceleration to AI data centers shifting to higher-layer-count QLC NAND; resolution requires NAND conversion spending data through the end of 2027.