Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron team up to block memory hoarding — prices might rise faster, but it could help encourage increased supply long term

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Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron team up to block memory hoarding — prices might rise faster, but it could help encourage increased supply long term

Memory makers have no plans to increase RAM production despite crushing memory shortages

Samsung raises memory chip prices by up to 60% since September, according to reports

But won’t this just keep memory prices permanently high? Won’t it help prevent a big pricing correction if and when that bubble bursts, just keeping us all paying over the odds for memory forever?

In the near term, it might actually stop memory prices from rising as quickly. If customers of Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix have been overbuying – and why wouldn’t they, if they can afford it – then preventing that immediately should curb demand. That could help slow the current parabolic price rises for memory specifically. While that might mean the major customers who had planned on stockpiling cheaper memory end up raising their prices sooner than they had planned, the overall effect should see a slowdown.

Similarly, cutting the overbooked orders should make it easier for smaller memory customers to gain access to orders. If they aren’t trying to compete with not only major companies but also major companies overbuying, they should find it easier to get stock of memory at fairer prices. That has the potential to stabilize industries and prevent smaller brands from being pushed out of markets entirely, keeping competition healthier, which is always good for customers.

It could also help give the memory manufacturers the confidence they seek to build out production faster and more effectively. Whereas previously their efforts in boosting supply ended up with them having to reduce supply down the line, this way they can be more confident of a longer tail for their business.

We just had a flurry of new investment announcements from Micron, SK Hynix, and Samsung, all of which are building new fabrication lines and packaging facilities. They won’t really come online until 2027-2028, but that at least gives us some time frame for when memory supply and demand could stabilize, with or without an AI bubble collapse.

What Micron, SK Hynix, and Samsung are doing in looking over the books of their customers feels like them expanding their influence even beyond being one of the most important technological bottlenecks facing the world right now. It feels intrusive, and even a little oppressive. They’re looking to control not only this limited supply of incredibly important hardware, but what their customers do with it, too.

But what’s good for them may be better for us, too. Demand policing doesn’t create new chips, but in reducing the phantom demand, they do lower overall demand, and bring back a little more predictability to an industry that has been racing ahead of everyone’s best guesses as the world panic bought what was available in a rush against one another.

Now, maybe the smaller buyers can compete because they aren’t trying to compete against capital and stockpiles. The memory makers can commit to capacity expansion without fearing a post-AI cliff face, as they did with the pandemic aftermath.

None of that is guaranteed, and the bigger buyers will continue to outweigh their smaller contemporaries and garner the priority they seek. But if it can slow things down just a little, it might make the next hard year ahead a little softer while we wait for that new capacity to come online in the years to come. Cutting that overbuying now is one of the few levers the industry can pull to prevent this cycle from getting far worse before it may get better.

Jon Martindale is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware. For the past 20 years, he's been writing about PC components, emerging technologies, and the latest software advances. His deep and broad journalistic experience gives him unique insights into the most exciting technology trends of today and tomorrow. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-13/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Jon Martindale Freelance Writer Jon Martindale is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware. For the past 20 years, he's been writing about PC components, emerging technologies, and the latest software advances. His deep and broad journalistic experience gives him unique insights into the most exciting technology trends of today and tomorrow.

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  • Volatility remains possible near catalysts
  • Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows

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