Flash maker Sandisk’s stock rose on news of a leaked internal memo confirming a multi-year flash supply agreement with Meta Platforms.
Per Reuters’ review of Meta internal documents, Meta will begin manufacturing its new AI chip, codenamed Iris, in September to expand its AI compute infrastructure. Three key suppliers support the buildout via long-term agreements (LTAs): Sandisk for NAND flash, Samsung for DRAM, and Sumitomo Electric for fiber-optic hardware.
LTAs have grown prevalent in DRAM and HBM markets. AI-fueled demand growth and persistent supply constraints have driven sharp price hikes across the oligopolistic supplier landscape. These contracts typically include guarded price floors and ceilings plus pre-committed customer funding, delivering stable revenue and production certainty for vendors, while granting clients predictable budgeting and reliable supply.
This marks the first publicly identified NAND-focused LTA, underscoring flash storage’s critical role in Meta’s AI infrastructure roadmap.
Meta has unveiled four generations of its custom Meta Training and Inference Accelerator (MTIA) chip: 300, 400, 450 and 500. It partners with Broadcom on chip design, packaging and high-speed networking. Meta’s new MTIA chips are either deployed now or slated for rollout in 2026–2027, expanding workload coverage from ranking/recommendation inference to ranking/recommendation training, general GenAI processing and optimized GenAI inference.
Meta highlighted its rapid chip iteration strategy, delivering new silicon roughly every six months. The speed stems from modular, reusable designs spanning chiplets, chassis, racks and network infrastructure. Its accelerator chiplet architecture enables independent component upgrades, cutting improvement cycles from years to months.
Notably, MTIA 400, 450 and 500 share identical chassis, rack and networking infrastructure. New chip generations drop into existing physical deployments, accelerating silicon-to-production rollouts.
Industry sources confirm the Iris chip corresponds to MTIA 400, set for September production launch. MTIA 450 carries the codename Arke, and MTIA 500 is named Astrid. The Next Platform has published detailed analysis of the MTIA chip architectures and capabilities.
Reuters reports Meta plans to deploy 7GW of AI compute capacity in 2026, with a 14GW target by 2027, and may spend up to $145 billion on AI infrastructure this year.
Specifics on Sandisk’s supplied flash products — whether raw chips or finished drives — remain undisclosed, and Sandisk declined official comment. Analysts expect further details in Sandisk’s upcoming quarterly earnings release. Similar NAND LTA partnerships are likely to emerge between other hyperscaler AI providers and major flash manufacturers.
SK HYNIX / SANDISK / KIOXIA FLASH MARKET CONTEXT: The global NAND flash sector is highly concentrated among top-tier vendors. Samsung leads the market, followed by SK Hynix Group, Kioxia (Kioxia), and Sandisk. Tight industry oligopoly, limited short-term capacity expansion and booming AI storage demand continue to sustain firm pricing and drive long-term contractual partnerships across the NAND supply chain.
Beijing Qianxing Jietong Technology Co., Ltd.
Sandy Yang/Global Strategy Director
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