The DRAM memory situation has completely gotten out of hand for the chip industry. The situation and needs of hyperscalers and data centers has caused the majority of the production of memory chips produced by Micron, Samsung and SK Hynix to go to meet the demand for AI, leaving the consumer sector orphaned.
Nothing new, since we’ve been talking about this (and complaining) for months, but although we have been talking about new factories to satisfy the brutal demand, we also said that these factories were destined to continue creating more memory for those data centers that were causing the bottleneck.
The situation has gotten so out of control that consumer brands have begun to look at chinese manufacturers as CXMT or YMTC, and Samsung has made the decision to expand its production of standard DRAM. The reason? Apple cannot go to Chinese suppliers.
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Even though the situation is as it is, the wheel must keep turning. Although some brands they are going to stay by the way due to the very high prices of RAM that forces them to increase the price for the consumer, with the risk that the consumer will not want to assume it, and Apple is one of those that is going to launch new devices.
Although he iPhone 18 It is expected for the beginning of 2027, by September we hope to see, at least, the iPhone 18 Pro and the foldable iPhonetwo devices whose price is up in the air, but which obviously need both RAM and storage. They are the two most complicated components at the moment and we have already seen that Apple his pulse does not tremble when raising prices. Several times, in fact.
But of course, you must have devices on the market and, to do so, you need components. If the production of Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron is not enough, it will look to others, and those are the Chinese producers. Specifically, a CXMT that in recent years has taken giant steps in the manufacturing processes of its RAM, and for weeks we have been hearing the rumor that Apple would not mind if CXMT was one of its suppliers.
CXMT would be delighted, of course, despite the fact that in the United States there are those who point out that Apple would get into trouble and that, furthermore, It’s theater to get better prices with your usual suppliers (Samsung). Stratagem or not, it seems that it has worked since, as the media points out SedailySamsung would be expanding its facilities in Hwaseong to increase the supply of commodity DRAM.
This plant would focus on consumer DDR and LPDDR memories for mobile devices, and what the South Korean media points out is that this expansion will allow Samsung increase your standard DRAM production capacity by approximately 15% before the end of 2026. It is a move that clearly tells Apple “we will be able to give you the DRAM you need, stop looking at China”, and it makes all the sense in the world.
Right now, Samsung accounts are skyrocketing thanks to the momentum of the AI industry, but if all this ever explodes and things return to normal, the fact that one of your main clients has found a better partner is not desirable, and even more so if that partner is a third party with whom you are not as comfortable as with Micron or SK Hynix, with which there is competition, but also favorable treatment, so it seems.
And beyond dazzling a giant like Applethe restructuring of the Samsung plant responds to a more practical question. The company has several complexes, but to create this basic DRAM, there were processes spread across several factories, which made the process longer than necessary. With the reorganization, apart from expanding production capacity, they concentrate production systems in one place to improve efficiency.
It is not that they are going to start manufacturing more, but that they are going to manufacture more intelligently. We will see if that extra 15% is enough to somewhat alleviate the burden of a saturated market and, above all, we will see if the decision comes in time.
Image | Apple
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