Samsung reportedly hiked memory and flash memory prices by as much as 30%

Following Morgan Stanley and other analysts’ optimism about the prospects for traditional storage, memory giants collectively announced price increases! On Monday, Samsung significantly raised prices for its memory and flash memory products, with DRAM prices increasing by as much as 30% and NAND flash prices by 5-10%, citing tight supply and surging demand from cloud-based enterprises. Competitors such as Micron and SanDisk also announced similar price hikes, with Micron increasing prices by 20-30% and suspending new orders.

According to South Korean media Newdaily, Samsung is raising prices for its LPDDR4X, LPDDR5, and LPDDR5X memory products by 30%, and NAND flash memory products like eMMC and UFC by 5-10%. The tight supply is primarily due to production cuts for older products and growing demand from large cloud service providers.

This round of price increases reflects a structural shift in the memory industry. Manufacturers are shifting their focus to emerging markets like AI PCs and next-generation smartphones, leading to a contraction in the supply of traditional products. Morgan Stanley predicts that as competition in the HBM market intensifies, traditional DRAM and NAND products are expected to see more sustainable growth by 2026.

Samsung isn’t alone in this action. Micron has notified customers of a 20-30% price increase and has suspended new orders. SanDisk has also announced a 10% price increase for its NAND flash memory products. This demonstrates the pressures facing the entire memory industry from a supply-demand imbalance.

The fundamental reason for the tight supply is a shift in industry focus. With the adoption of the LPDDR5/X standard in AI PCs and next-generation smartphones, manufacturers have reduced production of older products, but production capacity for the new standard has yet to keep pace with growing demand. DDR4 memory prices have skyrocketed by 50%, making DDR5 a more cost-effective PC solution.

Rising memory prices will directly impact procurement costs for consumer electronics and businesses. As one of the world’s largest memory manufacturers, Samsung’s pricing strategies often lead the industry, leading to market concerns that supply constraints could persist until 2025.

The surge in demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) has become a key factor driving up prices. Major DRAM manufacturers have shifted their focus to AI, prioritizing the supply of their latest products for AI accelerators from companies like NVIDIA and AMD. This shift in priorities has led to a tighter supply of consumer-grade DRAM.

Samsung currently holds a 32.7% share of the DRAM market and a 32.9% share of the NAND market. The company is working to secure support from Nvidia to promote its HBM products and is accelerating the development of LPDDR6 DRAM, with the first designs expected to launch later this year.

Morgan Stanley previously stated in a research report that HBM’s “premium myth” faces challenges, with intense competition and pricing pressure expected in 2026. Amidst expectations of Federal Reserve rate cuts and an improving macroeconomic environment, market funds are shifting from AI-driven HBM to traditional storage, with Morgan Stanley particularly bullish on the investment value of traditional DRAM.

The tightening supply and demand structure for DRAM and NAND flash memory appears to be reinforcing the need for price increases. Citigroup predicts that DRAM and NAND flash memory supply will be short by 1.8% and 4%, respectively, next year. Morgan Stanley also predicts that NAND supply will be short by as much as 8%.