[Exclusive] Samsung DRAM and NAND values will be raised by more than 15%

[Exclusive] Samsung DRAM and NAND values will be raised by more than 15%

Samsung Electronics will raise prices of DRAM for servers and NAND flash for enterprises by 15-20% in the third quarter, which are major memory semiconductors. Samsung Electronics is also expected to improve its performance in the second half of the year as competition to secure memories has arisen due to a surge in demand from artificial intelligence (AI).

According to the industry on the 26th, Samsung Electronics recently informed major customers including Dell Technologies and Hewlett-Packard (HPE) of such price hikes.

The device solution (DS) division, which is in charge of Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor business, held a global strategy meeting at its Hwaseong plant in Gyeonggi Province on the same day and shared the issue. Jeon Young-hyun, vice chairman of DS division who took the helm of semiconductor business last month, presided over the strategy meeting for the first time. Major executives including Lee Jung-bae, president of memory division Choi Si-young, president of foundry division, and Park Yong-in, president of System LSI, all attended the meeting.

Earlier, Samsung Electronics raised the price of NAND flash for enterprises by more than 20% in the second quarter. Following the first half of the year, Samsung began to raise prices on a large scale in the second half of the year as the AI craze led to an increase in demand for servers.

In fact, according to market research firm DRAMeXchange, global sales of NAND flash memories reached 3.758 billion dollars in the first quarter of this year, up 62.9 percent from the previous quarter. Customers are increasingly determined to secure supplies as growing demand has led to shortages of some products.

DDR4, a representative server DRAM, was initially expected to rise only slightly from $140 in the second quarter to $144 in the third quarter, but in reality, it is more likely to be traded at $160 or more. “Customers who usually presented demand for the next quarter are now informing semiconductor companies of their annual plans,” a semiconductor industry official said. “This is proof that they are paying attention to securing supplies.” He added, “As the market is currently dominated by suppliers, the final negotiation price could rise higher than 15 percent.”