Growing demand for AI chips is sending a larger share of South Korea's semiconductor exports to Taiwan, where Korean-made high-bandwidth memory (HBM) moves into advanced packaging processes led by TSMC.
Memory prices are expected to remain elevated through 2026 as AI and data-center demand strains supply, with meaningful supply relief unlikely until well into 2027. A South Korean securities analyst argues that the squeeze could also make it harder for China to expand AI use, although Washington has not identified high memory prices as a policy tool.
Samsung Electronics expects HBM4 sales to increase more than threefold sequentially in the third quarter of 2026, the company said on its earnings call. It projected that HBM4 will account for well over 60% of its total HBM revenue in the second half — a ramp that would lift its HBM market share broadly in line with its overall DRAM share and close the gap that has defined the HBM race since the AI boom began.
Samsung Electronics expects the global memory shortage to become more severe in 2027 than in 2026 and to persist through 2028, memory business EVP Jaejune Kim said on the company's second quarter of 2026 earnings call — and the company is using the crunch to fundamentally restructure how it sells memory, shifting 60-70% of its capacity into binding multi-year supply agreements.
Seagate's fiscal fourth quarter was by almost every measure its strongest in over a decade — US$3.6 billion in revenue, US$1.1 billion in free cash flow, and gross margins pushing toward 53%. But for supply chain watchers, the more important story is what the results reveal about where demand is heading, who is driving it, and how the hardware ecosystem needs to prepare.
SK Hynix reported record second-quarter revenue, underscoring the firm's strong demand for AI-related memory despite supply constraints and shifting customer buying patterns. The South Korean chipmaker said it is expanding long-term agreements with major customers to lock in demand and support investment planning. The company also expects HBM and DRAM to remain key growth drivers into the second half of 2026.
On July 28, Seagate Technology reported sharply higher revenue and profit for its fiscal fourth quarter, driven by continued demand from cloud data center customers and higher-capacity storage products tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure. The company also issued first-quarter fiscal 2027 guidance above its prior quarter's revenue level, reflecting expectations that demand momentum will continue.
SK Hynix has announced its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2026, reporting unprecedented growth in revenue and profitability. Driven by rapid expansion in the artificial intelligence (AI) market, the company achieved record-high margins and a significant surge in net profit, supported by both operational excellence and substantial investment gains.
Adata Technology posted record second-quarter results in 2026, as rising memory prices, aggressive procurement and tighter inventory management lifted revenue and profit to historic highs.
A high-level technology gathering in Sicily, reportedly to be attended by the leaders of two of South Korea's largest semiconductor groups, Samsung Electronics and SK Group, is drawing attention to their expanding roles across the AI infrastructure stack.
AI-driven demand is tightening the global memory market just as China's leading DRAM producer, ChangXin Memory Technologies, or CXMT, accelerates capacity expansion after a record IPO.
AI spending is broadening the memory upcycle beyond high-bandwidth memory, lifting prices for conventional DRAM, NAND flash and enterprise SSDs while reshaping earnings at SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics.
