Industry
SUMMARY
The global memory chip shortage, which has driven up prices for memory cards and SSDs for nearly a year, is projected to continue for an extended period. SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung predicts shortages will persist past 2030, with other analysts agreeing that the market will remain undersupplied for years. This situation is largely due to the high demand for AI-driven High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) chips, leading manufacturers to divert production capacity away from NAND flash used in consumer memory cards, thus increasing their cost.
TAKEAWAYS
Memory card prices may not decrease until after 2030 due to ongoing chip shortages.
AI demand for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) chips is a primary driver of the shortage.
Manufacturers are shifting production to HBM, reducing the supply of NAND flash for memory cards.
The shortage impacts consumer products like SD and CFexpress cards, increasing their prices.