SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung expects the global memory industry to experience its worst supply crunch in 2027. In an interview with Reuters last week, he also predicted that demand will continue to exceed production capacity until after 2030. This is two years later than the original forecast that the RAM crisis would end by 2028.
Demand for RAM will continue to rise as hundreds of artificial intelligence (AI) data center projects are being built simultaneously. SK Hynix is one of the world’s three major RAM manufacturers along with Samsung and Micron. The increase in demand relative to production capacity has brought huge profits to all three companies. Samsung Device Solutions predicts that its 2026 operating profit will exceed the cumulative profit of the previous 40 years.
To meet customer demand, SK Hynix is considering building new wafer fabs, with the United States, Japan and Southeast Asia as prime locations. In late June, SK Hynix and Samsung announced that two new large-scale chip fabrication sites worth 800 trillion won (~RM 2.1 trillion) will be built to support South Korea's chip production ecosystem.
They are part of the Three Mega Projects that will cost 1 quadrillion Won (~RM 2.7 trillion) to develop South Korea's semiconductor hub, artificial intelligence (AI) data center and robotics technology.
