The price increase of storage chips may continue throughout the year, with the rise of the Chinese industry becoming a "deciding factor."

Currently, the inventory of DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) and NAND (Flash Memory) is only enough to last about 4 weeks, and the price increase has become a foregone conclusion... Just after the Spring Festival in the Year of the Horse in 2026, the latest statement from global storage giant SK Hynix has once again heated up the price surge in the global storage market. On February 24, A-share storage concept stocks continued to rise, with individual stocks such as Beijing Junzheng, Taiji Industry, and Shannon Semiconductor all increasing by more than 5%.

Driven by the wave of AI and computing power development, the global storage market is expected to enter a price increase cycle starting from the third quarter of 2025. Industry insiders generally expect that the price increase of global storage chips will continue throughout 2026.

Against the backdrop of high industry prosperity, China's storage industry is accelerating its breakthrough, with companies like Yangtze Memory Technologies and Changxin Memory Technologies continuously making breakthroughs in technology and production capacity, while domestic module manufacturers are also making efforts. The rise of China's storage power is becoming a "trump card" that influences the global storage landscape and determines the direction of industry development.

Latest Statement from Giants: Inventory Only About 4 Weeks Left

On February 20, SK Hynix held a virtual investor meeting and revealed the latest data and its assessment of industry trends to Goldman Sachs.

SK Hynix stated that the current overall inventory of DRAM and NAND is only about 4 weeks, at a historically low level. From cloud providers like Google and Microsoft to AI companies like OpenAI, and consumer electronics manufacturers, all customers are unable to obtain sufficient supply, and the phenomenon of repeated orders has further raised price expectations.

"This year, no customer’s demand can be fully met," SK Hynix emphasized at the meeting. Due to the explosive real demand from AI and the rigid constraints of limited cleanroom space, it has become a foregone conclusion that storage chip prices will continue to rise throughout 2026.

To meet the strong demand for high-end storage driven by AI, SK Hynix will shift its production capacity towards high-value-added products such as HBM and DDR5, which has also led to tight supply and price increase expectations for standard storage products. SK Hynix revealed that its HBM production capacity for 2026 has been sold out in advance, and the extreme shortage of standard DRAM is significantly enhancing suppliers' bargaining power. The company is discussing long-term contracts with major customers to lock in future supply and prices.

The supply of NAND is also tight. As early as January, Kioxia stated that its NAND flash memory production capacity for 2026 has been fully sold out and expects the tight supply situation to last at least until 2027.

Performance data also confirms the high prosperity of the industry. SK Hynix's revenue for the fiscal year 2025 reached 97.15 trillion Korean won, with an operating profit of 47.21 trillion Korean won, achieving a profit margin of 49%, both setting historical records. Its high performance growth is a direct reflection of the continuous rise in storage prices and strong demand.

How Long Will the Super Prosperity Cycle Last?

Regarding the imbalance between storage supply and demand, SK Hynix provided two reasons: first, the real demand for storage from AI large models and high-performance computing continues to surge, far exceeding industry expectations; second, the slow expansion of cleanroom space relied upon for storage chip manufacturing limits production capacity growth, resulting in supply growth unable to match demand growth In fact, starting from the second quarter of 2025, the global storage industry began to rebound from the bottom. After SanDisk fired the first shot in raising NAND prices, storage manufacturers such as Samsung, Micron, Yangtze Memory Technologies, and GigaDevice followed suit by raising prices.

Taking SK Hynix as an example, it began to raise prices for high-end products starting in the third quarter of 2025, with HBM3E prices increasing by 15% to 20% and DDR5 16Gb chip monthly increases reaching 102%. From November of that year, it raised prices across all DRAM categories, with NAND flash contract prices also increasing by 10% to 15%. In January 2026, SK Hynix again significantly raised prices across all storage categories, with increases ranging from 20% to 60%.

"The continued price increase of storage chips is a certainty, and this year may see the highest price point," said a representative from a domestic storage chip company. The core cycle of rising storage prices is expected to last until the end of 2026, with high industry prosperity continuing at least until 2027; driven by AI, the HBM sector may not see a price turning point until early 2028.

The electronic team at Ping An Securities believes that the industry is currently facing a critical upgrade point, as overseas CSPs (cloud service providers) are continuously ramping up AI infrastructure construction, and the expansion of AI training and inference scales is leading to an absolute increase in shipment volumes. The proportion of high-tech products such as HBM and enterprise-grade SSDs is increasing, raising the average selling price. Considering the current sustained high prosperity of AI, the intensity and sustainability of this storage cycle are expected to exceed the previous one.

The Rise of Chinese Storage as a "Deciding Factor"

The global storage chip supply shortage triggered by the AI wave has not only led to continuous price increases but is also expected to change the global supply chain pattern that has been dominated by manufacturers from the US, Japan, and South Korea for decades.

According to reports, due to the continuous 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 to cope with cost pressures.

Despite factors such as long certification cycles and uncertainties, this is seen as a positive signal by the industry, indicating that Chinese storage chip manufacturers are seizing a rare opportunity to integrate into the global industrial supply chain, moving from being an "alternative option" to a "viable option."

After years of development, the Chinese storage industry has formed an industrial pattern led by Changxin Technology's DRAM and Yangtze Memory Technologies' NAND Flash for large-capacity storage chips, supplemented by Dongxin Technology's niche storage, Beijing Junzheng's SRAM (Static Random Access Memory), GigaDevice, and Puran's smaller-capacity flash memory.

The industry generally predicts that with the support of the capital market, China's storage chip production capacity is expected to be gradually released from the second half of 2026 to 2027, which will effectively alleviate the global storage supply tightness and promote storage prices to stabilize or even decline, becoming the "deciding factor" in this round of global storage chip price increases It is worth noting that after preliminary review, Changxin Technology's Sci-Tech Innovation Board IPO application was accepted on December 30, 2025. The company plans to raise 29.5 billion yuan to enhance its core competitiveness in the DRAM industry. This will further support the rise of China's storage industry.

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