DRAM Giants Announce Another Price Hike

According to South Korea's sedaily, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the world's two largest DRAM manufacturers, have informed clients that DRAM prices will continue to rise sharply in the second quarter of this year.

Price negotiations are ongoing, and the increase varies by client. Smaller buyers may face steep hikes to secure supply. An industry source noted, "Samsung's current production can only meet about 60% of demand due to the ongoing surge in DRAM requirements." Some clients reportedly need to accept prices more than double prior contracts to obtain bulk DRAM.

Following Lunar New Year, SK Hynix notified customers that DDR5 chips will rise by around 40% in Q2, prompting some memory module makers to temporarily halt external quotes from February 26. Meanwhile, Samsung's talks with Apple over LPDDR5X saw initial proposals of a 60% increase eventually finalized at 100%, which Apple reportedly accepted almost immediately without significant negotiation.

Normally, tech giants like NVIDIA and Apple hold advantages in price negotiations. However, the current market shortage has turned DRAM into a seller's market. Contracts with major tech players still outline volumes and price ranges per quarter or half-year, but final prices adjust according to market rates at delivery. Samsung and SK Hynix offer these large companies preferential pricing to maintain strong partnerships, while smaller clients now see monthly contracts reflecting rapid market price increases, especially since Q4 last year when DRAM prices surged.

Both companies have also locked in numerous "pre-sale" contracts to forecast quarterly demand. The large demand gap has prompted substantial price hikes for clients renewing contracts in Q2. One executive explained, "Contracted volumes now reflect market prices for both large and small clients, so prices are rising. New contracts after expiry must adjust to the current market, leading to significant increases."

Market research firm Gartner predicts that by the end of 2026, DRAM and SSD prices will be up about 130% compared to last year. DRAM Exchange data shows that DDR4 8Gb chips rose from $1.3 in March last year to $9.3 by year-end, and around $13 in February 2026, nearly a tenfold increase.

Experts suggest the surge is not a temporary supply-demand imbalance but a structural issue, with supply struggling to keep up with demand. The rise of AI agents replacing human expertise is driving explosive demand for DRAM in inference and computing, as enterprises, governments, and smartphones adopt AI applications. TrendForce reports that in Q4 2025, Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron accounted for 90% of the global DRAM market. Global production among the top three DRAM makers is expected to grow minimally this year, around 7%, or remain flat.