Recently, the demand for HBM and traditional DRAM chips in the AI market has remained strong, leading to a significant rise in prices. However, major global DRAM manufacturers are exhibiting unusual caution and are hesitant to rashly expand production capacity.

DRAM manufacturers are hesitant to expand production rashly, mainly due to concerns that if an AI bubble occurs, the worst-case scenario would be investing hundreds of billions of dollars with almost no demand.

Therefore, they chose a more conservative and secure method, which is to transform the existing PC DRAM production line instead of building a new line to meet the HBM demand, but the cost is sacrificing the production capacity of PC memory chips.

Reports indicate that although demand is strong, especially in the context of AI companies establishing long-term expansion plans, major DRAM manufacturers have not rushed to expand production capacity. Instead, they are focusing on process technology upgrades, higher stacking, hybrid bonding, and high-value products such as HBM.

TrendForce also pointed out that currently only Samsung and SK Hynix can slightly expand their production lines, while Micron is still waiting for its new ID1 factory in the United States to become operational, which won't happen until at least 2027. Therefore, it can be expected that PC memory will still be quite scarce in 2026.