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Global DRAM industry revenue surged 59.5% quarter-over-quarter in the second quarter of 2026, approaching $154.73 billion, driven by significant increases in commodity DRAM contract prices and sustained growth in HBM shipments. Samsung led the market with $60.98 billion in revenue and a 39.4% share, while SK hynix and Micron ranked second and third with quarterly revenue growth of 37.9% and 65.5%, respectively. Taiwanese manufacturers Nanya Technology, Winbond Electronics, and Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing benefited from order diversion effects, posting quarterly revenue gains ranging from 68% to 168%. Looking ahead to the third quarter, price increases are expected to moderate to 13%–18%, though the supply-constrained environment remains intact. Micron reportedly plans to double its HBM capacity by year-end, but analysts believe near-term capacity will still fall short of AI-driven demand.
Key Elements
Artificial intelligence (AI)-driven memory demand continued to surge in the second quarter of 2026, with global DRAM industry revenue soaring 59.5% quarter-over-quarter to approach $154.73 billion (approximately NT$4.9 trillion), marking one of the strongest single-quarter growth rates in recent years. Significant increases in commodity DRAM contract prices, combined with sustained volume growth in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) shipments, served as the twin engines propelling overall industry performance.
According to the latest research from TrendForce, large language model (LLM) training and AI inference demand have stimulated AI server procurement momentum, with shipments of HBM3e, LPDDR5X, and high-capacity RDIMMs growing in tandem. Agentic AI applications have further driven procurement demand for RDIMMs across various capacity configurations. On the supply side, original manufacturers’ inventories remain at trough levels, and new capacity is being prioritized for server applications. Overall DRAM bit shipments grew only modestly in the second quarter, making price increases the primary driver of the revenue surge.
All Three Major Manufacturers Post Strong Revenue Growth
Samsung Electronics, which was first to ramp HBM4 volume production and shipments, recorded the highest quarter-over-quarter bit shipment growth among the three major manufacturers in the second quarter. Its average selling price (ASP) also rose substantially, with quarterly revenue reaching $60.98 billion (approximately NT$1.9 trillion), up 63.4% QoQ, securing the top position with a 39.4% market share.
Ranked second, SK hynix saw relatively limited ASP growth because HBM accounts for the highest proportion of its total bit shipments among the three majors. Its second-quarter revenue rose 37.9% QoQ to $38.59 billion (approximately NT$1.2 trillion), with market share slipping slightly to 24.9%.
Micron (MU.US), constrained by capacity limitations, continued to shift its product mix toward higher-priced server DRAM. Its second-quarter revenue grew 65.5% QoQ to $36 billion (approximately NT$1.1 trillion), with market share edging up to 23.3%.
TrendForce noted that the three major manufacturers will primarily increase bit supply through accelerated migration to advanced process nodes during 2026–2027. Wafer start expansions will be achieved through modest upward revisions reallocation of cleanroom space from other product lines
Taiwanese Manufacturers Benefit from Order Diversion
While the three major manufacturers focus on high-end products, Taiwanese manufacturers including Nanya Technology (2408.TW), Winbond Electronics (2344.TW), and Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing (6770.TW) primarily target mature-node products. Their second-quarter momentum continued to be supported by demand that the top three players can no longer satisfy after transitioning their process technologies.
Nanya Technology saw DDR4 and DDR3 contract prices rise significantly, with overall revenue up 68.3% QoQ to $2.612 billion (approximately NT$82 billion). Winbond Electronics posted revenue growth of 75.8% QoQ, reaching $998 million (approximately NT$31 billion).
Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing’s revenue calculation is based primarily on its consumer DRAM products, reaching $115 million (approximately NT$3.6 billion) in the second quarter, a quarterly surge of 167.8%. Including foundry revenue, the quarterly increase was 54%. Market expectations suggest that once Powerchip secures Micron’s process technology licensing, it will aggressively initiate the next wave of supply expansion.
Third-Quarter Outlook: Moderating Gains but Unchanged Trend
Looking ahead to the third quarter, TrendForce projects that quarterly bit shipments will continue to increase modestly, but price gains may moderate. As some high-capacity RDIMM demand shifts to mid- and low-capacity products, and given PC and smartphone customers’ limited tolerance for price hikes, commodity DRAM price increases are expected to narrow to 13%–18% QoQ, with consumer DRAM—where original manufacturers have significantly curtailed supply—seeing the highest increases.
HBM Capacity Expansion Race Intensifies
In the HBM segment, the capacity expansion race continues to heat up. South Korean media reports indicate that Micron plans to double its HBM capacity by the end of 2026 to catch up with SK hynix and Samsung Electronics in capacity scale and enhance its supply capability for 12-layer stacked HBM4.
Micron’s HBM monthly output last year was reportedly 40,000 to 50,000 wafers. If the company adds another 60,000 wafers per month as planned, monthly output could reach approximately 100,000 wafers by year-end. HBM4 is the latest generation of high-bandwidth memory, designed to pair with chips such as Nvidia’s Rubin graphics processing units (GPUs).
Market analysts note that memory chip manufacturers have for years been stuck in relatively low-cost commodity memory manufacturing businesses. Now, demand for high-end products like HBM is “nearly insatiable,” offering suppliers substantial profit opportunities. Other analysts point out that demand currently exceeds existing supply by more than twofold and is still growing rapidly. Even if Micron expands HBM capacity, near-term capacity may still be insufficient to meet demand.
AI-driven demand has already caused severe shortages of DRAM and other types of memory and storage products, squeezing supply in other market segments such as consumer electronics. Although Micron, SK hynix, and Samsung have all announced expansion plans, the entire process will take years, prompting manufacturers to shift existing capacity from lower-cost memory to HBM, further exacerbating the supply crunch.
Buoyed by these positive developments, Micron shares surged 6.1% on September 4 to close at $1,016.59, a record closing high since July 1, bringing its year-to-date gain to 256.19%. Other memory and storage stocks rallied in tandem: flash memory module supplier Sandisk jumped 11.9%, SK hynix ADRs rose 8.14%, Western Digital and Seagate Technology gained 5.86% and 6.34% respectively, and NAND controller chip designer Silicon Motion Technology climbed 8.70%.
Overall, the paradigm shift of AI from the training phase to the inference phase is expanding the memory industry’s growth momentum from HBM to enterprise SSDs and various DRAM product categories. With the structural gap between supply expansion and demand growth unlikely to close anytime soon, the memory industry’s boom shows no signs of ending in the near term.
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