Industry leaders, including Samsung, have described the shortage as “unprecedented.” Samsung co-CEO TM Roh told Reuters that the tight supply conditions could last for months, if not years, as companies race to build the data centers and AI servers powering the next generation of technology.
The surge in demand has prompted chipmakers to redirect production toward high-bandwidth memory for AI servers, leaving less capacity for other products such as flash memory used in smartphones, USB drives, and consumer electronics. In some market segments, prices have more than doubled since February 2025, according to research firm TrendForce, prompting traders to anticipate further gains.
On Monday, Micron Technology shares rose roughly 2% in early trading. In South Korea, Samsung Electronics closed up 7.5%, while SK Hynix advanced nearly 3%. Smaller players including Western Digital, Applied Digital, and Seagate Technology gained more than 3%, with SanDisk up about 1.5%.
Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra recently projected that tight memory markets could continue beyond 2026. The company’s stock climbed an extraordinary 240% in 2025, far outpacing the 42% rise of the benchmark semiconductor index. Samsung shares more than doubled in value last year, while SK Hynix jumped nearly fourfold.
Analysts warn that memory remains a highly cyclical sector, prone to sharp price swings. However, experts at Morningstar and J.P. Morgan suggest that the current upturn, often referred to as a “supercycle,” could continue well into 2027, driven by long-term growth in AI and data infrastructure.