The two giants join hands! Samsung and SK Hynix DRAM prices may increase by up to 70%

The Zhitong Finance App learned that South Korean media said that due to the surge in demand for artificial intelligence (AI) affecting global supply, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix plan to raise server memory prices by up to 70% in the first quarter.

Both Korean companies are among the world's largest memory chip manufacturers. In November 2025, it was reported that storage vendors such as Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology (MU.US) were already facing a shortage of older dynamic random access memory (DRAM) products. This is because these companies cut production of older models and are instead focusing on producing the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) necessary to make advanced AI accelerators. SK Hynix is Nvidia's main supplier of HBM chips.

According to market news last month, Samsung and SK Hynix have increased the price of the fifth-generation high-bandwidth advanced memory chip (HBM3E) delivered in 2026 by 20%.

chain reaction

As Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron shift large wafer production capacity from traditional DRAM to HBM, the downstream supply chain is facing a triple shock.

Traditional server memory (DDR5) supply and demand imbalance: Producing a 1GB HBM chip requires about 2 to 3 times the wafer area of traditional DDR5. Due to the extremely high profit margin of HBM, manufacturers prioritize meeting AI requirements, resulting in the compression of DDR4/DDR5 production lines required for general-purpose servers, which is the core driving force behind this sharp rise in server memory prices.

Supply chain costs have risen dramatically: For buyers of non-AI servers (such as general clouds and enterprise data centers), memory costs usually account for 15% to 25% of the total machine cost. This sharp price fluctuation will force system integrators such as Dell and HP to adjust prices, and ultimately the pressure will spread to enterprise customers' IT budgets.

Longer delivery times: The delivery cycle of traditional DRAM is being extended. As manufacturers locked in price increases in the first quarter, some downstream manufacturers have begun to stock up, which further exacerbated supply fears.