Overview

While resistance to high memory prices is beginning to appear, the upward trend in prices remains unchanged due to supply shortages.

“Industry-wide memory shortages and price increases are likely to define the overall scale of the handset industry through the fiscal year” (Qualcomm): In the Q1 price negotiations, mobile companies rushed to secure volumes by compensating for memory prices that rose significantly compared to the beginning of the quarter (compensation price). However, in contrast, resistance to prices is visible in the Q2 price negotiations. Except for some large-scale supplies, more time is required to obtain the desired price.

"Please make more" (NVIDIA): Servers are no exception; the scale of the industry is determined by the degree of memory secured. NVIDIA’s “please make more” comment clearly shows how active AI server customers are in securing volumes. Although there are differences of opinion among companies regarding making large amounts of advance payments, there is no disagreement that more volumes are needed.

“Set a target to expand its LTA (long-term agreement) coverage to 50% of total contracts by 2028” (Kioxia): The compensation for facility investment costs to supply volumes is a sufficiently attractive price. NAND companies have been relatively conservative about capacity expansion compared to DRAM companies. NAND prices continue their upward trend, rising more than 20% per quarter in the second half of the year as well.

Table of Contents

• Mobile DRAM, from price compensation to price resistance
• Apple vs Android
• Involuntary premiumization
• More-than-expected NAND price increases
• Growing demand for servers, with the timing of the cycle downturn pushed back

Number of Pages: 4
Published Date: June 2026