Jan 5 (Reuters) – Shares of the world’s top memory chip suppliers rose on Monday, as investors bet that surging demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure will tighten global supply, leading to further price increases.
Samsung co-chief executive TM Roh told Reuters in an interview that the shortage was “unprecedented,” echoing warnings from peers that such constraints could last for months or even years as the race to build AI infrastructure drains supplies.
That demand has prompted memory chip makers to shift production toward high-bandwidth memory for artificial intelligence servers, squeezing supply from nearly every other industry, such as USB drives and flash memory chips used in smartphones.
Prices in some segments have more than doubled since February last year, according to market research firm TrendForce, attracting traders to bet the gains will continue.
Micron Technology shares rose about 2% in early trading on Monday. The share prices of South Korea-listed SK Hynix and Samsung closed up nearly 3% and 7.5% respectively.
Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said last month that he expected the memory market to remain tight beyond 2026. The company’s shares are up 240% in 2025, far outpacing the benchmark chip index’s 42% gain.
Last year, Samsung shares more than doubled, while SK Hynix nearly quadrupled.
Smaller peers Western Digital, Applied Digital and Seagate Technology rose more than 3% on Monday. SanDisk rose about 1.5%.
Memory is a highly cyclical industry, characterized by extreme downturns and highs and volatile price levels.
Analysts at Morningstar Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. estimate that the current economic recovery, often referred to as the “supercycle,” could last until 2027.
(Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
