Indeed, Japan claims that its decision to curb exports of these strategic materials to South Korea stems from national security concerns over the latter's lack of oversight. Currently, South Korea's Samsung and SK Hynix together dominate the world's DRAMS market with 72.8 per cent of the global market share and the NAND flash market at 46.8 per cent ( 2019 Q1 estimates ). Because Samsung is one of the main suppliers of memory chips to Huawei, the Japanese export curbs may lead to a slowing down of China's AI progress by altering Samsung's production line. To boost NAND flash market shares, Japan's Toshiba Memory is constructing a joint investment manufacturing facility in Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture to collaborating with US chipmaker Western Digital for a joint venture and R&D activities on 3D NAND production.