OpenAI's Stargate project to consume up to 40% of global DRAM output
• Samsung and SK hynix have inked preliminary agreements to supply undiced wafer memory to OpenAI’s massive Stargate data center initiative, projecting 900,000 DRAM wafers demand per month. Analysts predict that DRAM capacity could grow by 8.7% in 2025 to around 2.25 million WSPM.
SanDisk’s 10% price hike meets demand-side resistance
• SanDisk aims to elevate market prospect by a 10% price increase, which has however been met with resistance from the demand end. With the peak season of stocking activities having concluded, the withering degree of end demand for the time being is unable to provide a support for prices, thus restricting suppliers’ price hikes within channels, and have yet to branch out to the retail market.
Nvidia and Kioxia target 100 million IOPS SSD in 2027
• The drives are projected to use a PCIe 7.0 interface to connect to GPUs in a peer-to-peer mode and will be exclusively designed for use in AI.
• Nvidia plans to use a couple of such SSDs — totalling a whopping 200 million IOPS — attached directly to its GPUs to boost AI performance. The 100 million IOPS SSD delivers 33 times more than that existing drives can achieve.
OpenAI's Stargate project to consume up to 40% of global DRAM output
• Samsung and SK hynix have inked preliminary agreements to supply undiced wafer memory to OpenAI’s massive Stargate data center initiative, projecting 900,000 DRAM wafers demand per month. Analysts predict that DRAM capacity could grow by 8.7% in 2025 to around 2.25 million WSPM.
Micron surged to a record high driven by strong AI-related memory demand, robust data center growth, and aggressive investment in HBM
• The company is ramping up HBM capacity, with FY2025 capital expenditure projected at $14B—up 75% from the previous year—to support HBM3 production.
• Data center revenue surged 400% YoY and 40% QoQ, surpassing 50% of total revenue for the first time, driven by DRAM and HBM demand.
WW SSD demand recovers from relatively lower level in Q2, and is expected to stay at a higher level than current stage in 2026.
Flash Sufficiency: maintain at low level since 2024. Suppliers have strengthened their production reduction efforts, concentrating manufacturing resources on AI-related demand.
Price Trend: overall NAND flash price is expected to increase by at least 10% in Q4 with enterprise and cloud service provider (CSP) demand surging—driven by AI infrastructure expansion and server upgrades.
DRAM Sufficiency: Supply remains at an extremely low level throughout 2025. Extreme shortages begin in Q4 and are likely to continue into 2026 1H.
Price Trend: DDR4 prices remain high due to ongoing production cuts. Strong demand from CSPs and enterprise servers has tightened DDR4 supply, with manufacturers prioritizing DDR5 and HBM, driving prices even higher through Q4.
