The production of prompt
Ds+ and
D+ mesons is measured by the LHCb experiment in proton-lead (
pPb) collisions in both the forward (
1.5<y*<4.0) and backward (
−5.0<y*<−2.5) rapidity regions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of
sNN=8.16 TeV. The nuclear modification factors of both
Ds+ and
D+ mesons are determined as a function of transverse momentum,
pT, and rapidity. In addition, the
Ds+ to
D+ cross section ratio is measured as a function of the primary charged particle multiplicity in the event. An enhanced
Ds+ to
D+ production in high-multiplicity events is observed for the whole measured
pT range, in particular at low
pT and backward rapidity, where the significance exceeds six standard deviations. This constitutes the first observation of strangeness enhancement in charm quark hadronization in high-multiplicity
pPb collisions. The results are also qualitatively consistent with the presence of quark coalescence as an additional charm quark hadronization mechanism in high-multiplicity proton-lead collisions. © 2024 CERN, for the LHCb Collaboration 2024 CERN