Memory Chip Squeeze Widens Gap Between Market Winners and Losers | Bloomberg

Memory ‘Supercycle’

Concerns over demand and earnings are weighing on the corporate landscape, compounded by worries that massive AI infrastructure spending by US hyperscalers will further exacerbate memory-chip shortages. The massive build‑out of AI infrastructure led by the likes of Amazon.com Inc. has shifted production capacity toward high-bandwidth memory and away from traditional DRAM.

This has led to what some are describing as a “supercycle,” breaking the usual boom-to-bust patterns of memory supply and demand.

Spot prices for DRAM have shot up more than 600% in the past few months, even as demand for end-products like smartphones and cars remains weak. On top of that, AI is creating new demand for NAND chips and other storage products, driving up costs in those segments as well.

As such, memory chip makers have been the standout winners among tech stocks. Shares of SK Hynix Inc., a key supplier of HBM to Nvidia Corp., are up more than 150% just since the end of September in Seoul. Among makers of more pedestrian chips, Japan’s . and are up over** 270% each** in that span, while has climbed more than in New York.