Overview
- Industry reports now expect Samsung and SK Hynix to reach roughly 40%–50% NAND profit margins in the first half of 2026 after margins rebounded to about 20% in the fourth quarter.
- TrendForce lifted first‑quarter forecasts to record increases, including PC DRAM up 105%–110%, server and mobile DRAM up 88%–93%, and enterprise SSDs up 53%–58%, with overall NAND prices up 55%–60%.
- Counterpoint projects NAND prices will climb more than 40% quarter over quarter in Q1 and notes tightness tied to prioritizing AI‑server products, recent consumer‑side pullbacks, and a 50% jump in low‑end 128GB PC SSD transaction prices.
- Company disclosures show NAND average selling prices already rose more than 30% in Q4 at SK Hynix and SanDisk, with SK Hynix also reporting a roughly 10% increase in bit shipments.
- Samsung and SK Hynix plan Q2 conversion investments to expand advanced V9 NAND, with industry discussions pointing to 40,000–50,000 wafers per month in aggregate and SK Hynix targeting about 30,000 wafers per month at Cheongju M15, while some smartphone makers reportedly cut or delay models in response to higher memory costs.