Rising storage chip prices may persist throughout the year, with the rise of Chinese industries becoming the "decisive factor"

Currently, DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) and NAND (Flash Memory) inventories are only enough to last about 4 weeks. Price increases have become inevitable… Just after the Year of the Horse Spring Festival in 2026, the latest statement from global storage giant SK Hynix has reignited the price hike trend in the global storage market. On February 24, storage concept stocks listed on the A-shares market continued to rise, with Beijing Junzheng, Taiji Industrial, Xiangnong Xinchuang, and others gaining over 5%.

Driven by the wave of AI and computing power development, the global storage market has entered a price increase cycle since Q3 2025. Industry insiders generally expect that the price rise of global storage chips will continue throughout 2026.

In the context of high industry prosperity, China’s storage industry is accelerating its breakthrough. Companies like Yangtze Memory Technologies and Changxin Technology are making continuous breakthroughs in technology and capacity. Domestic module manufacturers are also stepping up, and the rise of Chinese storage power is becoming a “decisive factor” influencing the global storage landscape and industry development.

Latest from industry giants: Inventory only about 4 weeks

On February 20, SK Hynix held a virtual investor conference, revealing the latest data and industry trend analysis to Goldman Sachs.

SK Hynix stated that the overall inventory of DRAM and NAND is currently only about 4 weeks, at historically low levels. From cloud providers like Google and Microsoft, to AI companies like OpenAI, and consumer electronics terminal manufacturers, all customers are unable to obtain sufficient supply. Repeated orders are further driving up price expectations.

“None of our customers’ demands can be fully met this year,” SK Hynix emphasized at the meeting. Due to the explosive growth in real AI demand and rigid supply constraints such as cleanroom space limitations, the prices of storage chips are expected to continue rising in 2026, with an upward trend expected to last the entire year.

To meet the strong demand for high-end storage driven by AI, SK Hynix is shifting capacity toward high-value products like HBM and DDR5. This also tightens supply and boosts price expectations for standard storage products. SK Hynix revealed that its HBM capacity for 2026 has been sold out in advance, and the severe shortage of standard DRAM is significantly increasing suppliers’ bargaining power. The company is discussing multi-year contracts with major clients to lock in future supply and prices.

Supply of NAND is also tight. As early as January, Kioxia announced that its NAND flash capacity for 2026 was fully sold out, and the tight supply situation is expected to last at least until 2027.

Performance data also confirms the high prosperity of the industry. SK Hynix’s fiscal year 2025 revenue reached 97.15 trillion won, with an operating profit of 47.21 trillion won, and a profit margin of 49%, both hitting record highs. This strong performance directly reflects the continuous rise in storage prices and robust demand.

How long will the super cycle last?

Regarding the imbalance of storage supply and demand, SK Hynix attributes it to two main reasons: first, the explosive growth in real demand for storage from AI large models and high-performance computing, far exceeding industry expectations; second, the slow expansion of cleanroom space required for manufacturing storage chips, limiting capacity ramp-up, and preventing supply growth from matching demand.

In fact, since Q2 2025, the global storage industry has begun to rebound from the bottom. After SanDisk initiated NAND price increases, Samsung, Micron, Yangtze Memory, GigaDevice, and other storage manufacturers (including NAND and DRAM) have followed suit with price hikes.

For example, SK Hynix started raising prices for high-end products in Q3 2025, with HBM3E prices up 15-20%, and DDR5 16Gb chips seeing a monthly increase of 102%. From November that year, all categories of DRAM and NAND contract prices were increased by 10-15%. In January 2026, SK Hynix again significantly raised prices across all storage categories, with increases ranging from 20% to 60%.

“Continuing to rise in storage chip prices is a certainty. This year may see the peak prices,” said a representative from a domestic storage chip company. They believe the core cycle of storage price increases will last until the end of 2026, with high industry prosperity continuing at least until 2027. Driven by AI, the HBM market may not see a price inflection point until early 2028.

Ping An Securities’ electronics team believes that the industry is at a critical upgrade node. Overseas CSPs (cloud service providers) are continuously expanding AI infrastructure, and the scale of AI training and inference is increasing, leading to absolute growth in shipments. The proportion of high-tech products like HBM and enterprise SSDs is rising, raising average selling prices. Given the current high prosperity of AI, the strength and duration of this storage cycle are expected to surpass the previous one.

China’s storage rise as a “decisive factor”

The global shortage of storage chips triggered by the AI wave not only causes continuous price increases but also has the potential to change the supply chain pattern dominated by Japanese and Korean manufacturers for decades.

Reports indicate that due to ongoing price increases and tight supply of consumer-grade storage chips, PC manufacturers such as HP, Dell, Acer, and Asus are considering using storage chips produced by Chinese chip manufacturers in their products.

Despite challenges like long certification cycles and uncertainties, industry insiders see this as a positive signal, indicating that Chinese storage chip manufacturers are gaining a rare opportunity to integrate into the global supply chain, moving from “alternative options” to “preferred options.”

After years of development, China’s storage industry has formed a pattern with Changxin Technology leading in large-capacity storage chips like DRAM and Yangtze Memory in NAND Flash, complemented by niche players like East Chip in specialized storage, Beijing Junzheng in SRAM, and companies like GigaDevice and Puran in small-capacity flash memory.

Industry forecasts suggest that with support from the capital market, China’s storage chip capacity is expected to gradually release from the second half of 2026 to 2027, effectively alleviating global storage supply tightness and stabilizing or even reducing prices, becoming the “decisive factor” in this round of global storage chip price hikes.

Notably, after preliminary review, Changxin Technology’s IPO application on the STAR Market was accepted on December 30, 2025. The company plans to raise 29.5 billion yuan to further enhance its core competitiveness in the DRAM industry. This will further boost China’s storage industry rise.

Source: Shanghai Securities News

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