At present, there are mainly two types of storage chips, one is DRAM, which is memory, including DDR and HBM. Another type is NAND, also known as flash memory, mainly used for SSDs and other applications.
And these two products are currently mainly monopolized by three major companies: Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix, with a combined share of over 80%.
Therefore, the whole market, in fact, depends on the three the final say: price increase or price increase, production reduction or expansion, depending on how these three enterprises manipulate.
To be honest, the global frenzy of DDR memory this year is also related to the strategic adjustments of these three major manufacturers.
At first, they said they would stop producing DDR4 and focus on DDR5 and HBM. Later, they also said they would transfer some DDR5 to HBM. Coupled with the popularity of AI chips this year, Nvidia’s demand for HBM has increased significantly.
As a result, the entire market experienced a shortage of DDR4 and DDR5, leading to continuous price increases. This year, DDR4 increased by over 600% and DDR5 increased by over 200%, making Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix the three major manufacturers making huge profits.
They are not satisfied. They say that prices will rise again in 2026 and they want to continue to make a lot of money, because whether from the perspective of technology, the market, or their three major enterprises the final say.
However, from the current situation, Chinese memory manufacturers finally have the ability to disrupt the market.
The reason is that Changxin, a domestic manufacturer specializing in DRAM memory, officially unveiled DDR5 chips at IC CHINA 2025, including LPDDR5, LPDDR5X, etc., forming a complete product matrix from DDR4, LPDDR4X, DDR5, LPDDR5 to LPDDR5X.
You should know that the development path of DRAM chips is based on 1-2-3-4-4X-5-5X, and currently the most advanced DDR specification in the world is LPDDR5X.
It can be said that after years of hard work, Changxin Storage has finally caught up with giants such as Samsung, Micron, SK Hynix, and is able to compete on the same stage.
In terms of performance, Changxin’s LPDDR5X covers speeds of 8533Mbps, 9600Mbps, and 10667Mbps, reaching the international top level.
It is conceivable that once the technology of domestic manufacturers catches up, and then the output can rise, the monopoly of Samsung, Micron and SK Hynix will be broken, and the price will not be up to them.
And it is very likely that with the large-scale launch of domestic DDR5, the current trend of price increases may also be disrupted. Therefore, Samsung and Micron should be panicking now. Once the prices are balanced by domestic manufacturers and cannot rise, they will earn a lot less money.
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