We may only have one year of RAM crisis left if this former Samsung boss is right

The former head of Samsung’s semiconductor business made a more optimistic prediction about the RAM crisis
The memory situation will improve thanks to an increase in RAM production by Chinese companies and some deflation in the AI bubble.
Due to those factors combined, we are told: “There is a chance that the market will change starting in the second half of next year or the first half of 2028.”

Could the RAM crisis be over sooner than I thought, and maybe even in not much more than a year? A former Samsung executive has stated that this could be a possibility.

Wccftech pointed to a report from Seoul Economic Daily (via PC Gamer), which cited Kye-hyun Kyung, who was head of Samsung’s semiconductor business until a couple of years ago.

In a speech at the Korea National Academy of Engineering in Seoul, Kyung noted that “Chinese companies are aggressively expanding their production capacity” to make RAM.

Analysis: some welcome optimism, but it goes against the grain

A young teenager plays a PC game and celebrates a victory.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Of course, Kyung has only indicated that we may see the beginning of the end (so to speak) of sky-high RAM prices come the second half of 2027, but that’s still a more optimistic line of thinking than we’ve seen before. And I’ll accept that sentiment, certainly.

I’m not convinced that the currently booming AI industry is going to start taking a nosedive anytime soon, but the observation that the amount of money going into AI far outweighs any benefits to be made is a fair point.

Other comments we’ve received this month about the AMR crisis have been decidedly more somber. In fact, we’ve witnessed warnings of one kind or another from all three big memory chip makers (including Samsung) predicting that the crisis will last at least until 2028 and, in one case, possibly until 2030. And they should be in a pretty good position to know that.

So for now, talking about a recovery that will kick in in just over a year seems like looking through rose-tinted glasses, but I’m happy to entertain the idea and hope that other, more positive forecasts may be imminent.