Reports in Korean business media say Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are raising quoted prices for server DRAM by 60% to 70% for the first quarter of 2026 compared with the fourth quarter of 2025, as demand continues to outstrip supply.
Samsung Electronics will resume structural construction at its Pyeongtaek P5 semiconductor plant next month. The company halted the project last year during a downturn in the memory market, but is now expanding capacity as demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in AI recovers.
SK hynix announced on Jan. 5 that it expects its fifth-generation high-bandwidth memory, HBM3E, to remain the dominant product in the AI-driven memory market through 2026, even as preparations accelerate for a transition to HBM4.
Global memory markets are expected to remain tight through 2026 as aggressive spending by cloud service providers (CSPs) on AI infrastructure continues to outstrip supply growth for both DRAM and NAND flash, pushing prices higher, according to industry estimates.
ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) returned to profitability in 2025, recording its first full year of net income after a rebound in global DRAM prices and a sharp increase in the value of its chip inventory reversed years of losses. The turnaround followed an extended period of heavy capital spending and came as accelerating demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure tightened global memory supply.
Samsung Electronics is reportedly on track to post sharply higher operating profit in the fourth quarter of 2025 as demand tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure lifts memory chip prices. The reports, compiled by South Korean outlets including Korea Economic Daily and EBN and citing industry sources, said Samsung's preliminary fourth-quarter operating profit is expected to exceed KRW20 trillion, a level that would mark the first time a South Korean company has crossed that threshold in a single quarter.
China's leading domestic DRAM maker, ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), is seeking to raise CNY29.5 billion (approx. US$4.2 billion) through an IPO in Shanghai, as it looks to upgrade production lines and expand development of advanced memory technologies.
