Amid a frenzy of investments in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, a shortage of memory chips is deepening. Reuters reported on the 14th that Samsung Electronics raised prices for some DRAM products by about 60%.
According to semiconductor distributor Fusion Worldwide, the November contract price for Samsung Electronics' 32-gigabyte (GB) DDR5 memory chip module was $239 (about 350,000 won), up 60% from September's $149 (about 220,000 won).
Over the same period, contract prices for 16GB and 128GB DDR5 memory chips were set at $135 (about 200,000 won) and $1,194 (about 1.74 million won), respectively, up 50% each, Reuters said. Contract prices for 64GB and 96GB DDR5 memory chips were also raised by more than 30%.
Toby Gonnerman, head of Fusion Worldwide, told Reuters, "Major server makers and those building data centers are now accepting that they will not be able to secure enough (memory) products. The price premium is extreme." Reuters said the memory chip shortage is so severe that some customers engaged in "panic buying," citing analyses from industry sources and experts.
Reuters also noted that these memory chips are mainly used in servers and observed that the surge in chip prices could increase the expense burden on big tech companies and others building data centers.