Morgan Stanley forecasts the total addressable market for AI infrastructure to reach nearly $1 trillion by 2030, with inference growing at a 42% CAGR from 2025-2030 to capture 56% market share by 2030. The report highlights unprecedented memory pricing mismatches in 2026, including DDR5 spot prices surging past $45.00 and contract prices around $37.50, alongside a dramatic spike in 512GB PCIe 4.0 SSD OEM contract prices to $118 while channel spot prices dropped to $84. DRAM contract year-over-year growth skyrocketed to a historic high of 820% in 2026, shattering previous cyclical peaks.
AI inference demand is now the primary driver of infrastructure spend, creating extreme volatility and disconnection in memory pricing that benefits suppliers.