DRAM Has Gone Insane
AI-driven DRAM shortage: prices up 170%, 6-month contracts, 2027 supply talks, forced bundling—upgrade costs here to stay.
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As global artificial intelligence (AI) investment continues to expand, intensifying the shortage of semiconductor DRAM, the previous practice of monthly or quarterly price negotiations is shifting toward long-term supply contracts lasting six months or longer. With severe DRAM supply shortages expected to persist and drive prices higher next year, demand-side companies are actively accepting half-year contracts. The market has even begun discussing supply contracts for 2027, as securing supply for next year is becoming increasingly difficult.
On November 17, a semiconductor industry insider explained: “The DRAM market has completely shifted to a long-term contract-oriented market,” adding, “The buying demand generated by this situation is even stronger than during the super-cycle market of 2017.” DRAM serves as temporary data storage, enabling central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs) to process information quickly.
With the emergence of large language models (LLM) AIs such as ChatGPT, the role of GPUs has become increasingly prominent. To support these models, memory semiconductors — including high-bandwidth memory (HBM) that uses multi-layer stacked DRAM — are facing severe supply shortages. A prime example is U.S. big tech companies, including NVIDIA — the world’s largest AI semiconductor company — securing HBM chips from SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics through annual long-term contracts.
