SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung stated that 2027 will be the "worst year" for the memory industry from a supply perspective, with customer demand expected to remain higher than supply capacity even beyond 2030. This long-term shortage is primarily driven by HBM demand for AI accelerators, which requires more sophisticated manufacturing and wafer capacity compared to consumer DDR5. The company recently completed the largest-ever IPO for a foreign company on the U.S. stock market, raising $26.5 billion.
Advanced memory supply will remain critically tight for years, forcing AI infrastructure builders to secure HBM capacity through long-term agreements at elevated prices.