Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron are increasing their 2026 capital expenditures by 16% year-over-year, with Micron investing over 70%, driven by rising DDR5 contract prices and improved margins. This surge in CAPEX is directly linked to capacity expansion for AI memory standardization and increased equipment orders from suppliers. Current market memory inventory stands at 4 weeks, half of adequate safety stock levels, and HBM supply shortages persist due to AI servers consuming 8-10 times more DRAM and over 3 times more NAND than conventional servers.
Memory manufacturers are aggressively expanding capacity for AI memory, indicating sustained tightness in HBM and high-performance DDR5 supply.