In the second half of 2025—especially after entering November—the global memory market experienced a full-scale surge, with prices climbing rapidly in what many industry experts describe as the strongest “super cycle” in recent years. Major suppliers such as Samsung and SK Hynix have already issued pricing adjustment notices in Q4, with DRAM and NAND prices rising by up to 30%. Western Digital raised its NAND contract prices by 50% in November, marking its third price increase this year.

Industry research shows that since early September:

• DDR4 1Gx8 spot prices have surged 158%

• DDR5 2Gx8 spot prices have soared 307%

• NAND supply has become extremely tight, with prices changing almost daily

Chinese Manufacturers Also Accelerate Their Push in High-End Memory

ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), the world’s fourth-largest DRAM producer, is actively expanding its product line. After launching LPDDR5X in October, the company released its first domestic DDR5 product in November. According to CXMT’s marketing director Luo Xiaodong, China must secure a stable and scalable domestic DRAM production capacity to reduce dependence on overseas suppliers.

The Core Driver of This Price Surge: AI Reshaping the Entire Supply Chain

According to industry observations, this pricing uptrend started to take shape in Q2 2025—fundamentally driven by the explosion of AI server demand.

A single top-tier AI training server requires:

≈ 8× more DRAM than a traditional server.

To meet the soaring demand and maximize margins, upstream manufacturers have shifted production capacity toward:

• HBM (High Bandwidth Memory)

• DDR5

As a result, capacity dedicated to traditional DDR4 has been squeezed, creating a structural shortage across the market.

In other words, AI has absorbed massive DRAM capacity, intensifying the overall memory supply crunch.

Impact of the Memory Super Cycle:

Benefit for Manufacturers, Pressure for OEMs**

For upstream memory manufacturers, this super cycle brings clear advantages:

• Higher capacity utilization

• Product mix shifting toward high-end memory

• Recovery of profitability across the industry

For downstream OEMs—PC, mobile, industrial equipment, IoT, and automotive electronics—the implications are more challenging:

• Rising material costs

• Increased supply fluctuation risks

• Higher inventory and procurement pressure

With memory prices trending upward, high-end capacity becoming concentrated, and supply imbalances widening between product tiers, securing stable memory supply has become a top priority for OEMs.