Koreans speak bluntly. The crisis will last until 2030
According to the chairman of SK Group, the memory market is still under enormous pressure and the situation will not improve quickly. Supply problems may persist for another four to five years, as the production capacity of the entire industry clearly lags behind growing demand. According to him, the difference between demand and availability of silicon wafers currently exceeds 20%, and a more complete balance of the market may only occur around 2030.
The development of AI indirectly increases the prices of consumer electronics
This is an important signal for the entire electronics sector, because SK Group controls SK hynix, one of the three largest NAND and DRAM producers in the world. Chey Tae-won pointed out that production capacity is being developed, but launching new lines is not a quick process. In practice, this means that even with large investments, the industry will not be able to immediately respond to the surge in interest in memories, especially those used in artificial intelligence systems.
The biggest problem today is shifting priorities towards the HBM bones. This type of systems is crucial for AI accelerators. This affects the production and availability of classic DRAM chips, which are used in a much wider range of devices, including smartphones and PCs.
Chey Tae-won suggested that SK hynix is already working on measures to help stabilize DRAM prices. Details have not been disclosed, but the plan is to be presented soon by the company’s president, Kwak Noh-jung. At the same time, competitors are expanding their facilities. Samsung is expanding production capacity in Pyeongtaek, where the P5 plant is scheduled to begin operations by 2028. Micron is also planning a big move and plans to invest $9.6 billion in a new facility in Hiroshima.
In other words, even without a crash on the AI market, sooner or later memory prices should return to normal, and thus the increases for computer components such as SSD and RAM modules, laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc. will end. However, you need to be patient, because it will not happen quickly.
