SK Hynix is one of the top three DRAM memory component suppliers supplying components to a variety of industries from consumer computing, to data centers, automotive and now AI.
SK Hynix’s influence on RAM production is enormous, with some reports saying it now holds 57 percent of the HBM or High Bandwidth Memory market that is currently being pursued by component makers and AI technology developers worldwide.
At the ongoing NVIDIA GTC event in the United States, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said that he expects the memory supply drought to last until at least 2030, based on the demand for existing HBM memory.
Worsening the situation is that according to a Bloomberg report, the production of memory components in general, especially DRAM memory, is 20 percent behind industry demand, and this is quite serious when component and electronic equipment manufacturers have already started to exhaust their own DRAM component storage supplies.
Companies such as SK Hynix and Samsung have already begun efforts to increase production capacity by building new factories in South Korea, but these additional factories will only start operating in 2027 to 2028, and production capacity is expected to reach its optimum level only two to three years after operation.
Samsung has also recently started offering 3-5 year contracts to certain clients so that they can lock in the price of memory components (HBM and DRAM) in anticipation that they will continue to rise for the next few years.
