- The president of a major memory chip maker has issued a worrying warning
- Chey Tae-won points out: “We need some time to manufacture more wafers, at least four or five years”
- This is a more pessimistic prediction than that made by analyst firms.
One of the world’s leading memory chip makers believes the RAM supply shortage and associated pricing crisis could last for the rest of this decade.
PakGazette reports that Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, made the dismal prediction that the RAM crisis may not end until 2030.
Chey said: “Therefore, we need some time to produce more wafers, at least four to five years. The current shortage could continue until 2030, so we expect a shortage of more than 20% of wafers.”
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This refers to the wafers used to make memory chips, and a particular difficulty at the moment is that AI is creating a huge demand for a certain type of RAM, namely HBM or high-bandwidth memory. SK Hynix, a division of SK Group, is the main supplier of HBM to Nvidia.
Chey explained: “Actually, AI wants to have a lot of HBM, and once the HBM is made… we have to use a lot of wafers.”
SK Hynix is one of the big three RAM manufacturers in the world, along with Samsung and Micron.
Analysis: A worrying prediction, but SK Hynix has a plan
There is a lot of profit in selling this memory for AI use (many more than with consumer RAM, of course), so the priorities are skewed and the latter is doing worse.
Chey predicts that AI demand will continue to pressure supplies to the point that it will take four years to ramp up production to keep pace with the supply required for the AI industry as well as consumer products.
While we have witnessed predictions that the RAM crisis will continue until 2028, we have heard indications that it could last longer, and the chairman of SK Group has certainly extended that time period in a worrying manner.
On a more positive note, Chey also indicated that SK Hynix is formulating a plan to try to stabilize RAM prices. We’re told the CEO will make an announcement on this, and hopefully soon.
However, in the short term, the situation in the Middle East and its effect on energy prices is not likely to make things easier for the supply chain in terms of the cost of getting RAM to market.
MSI just called 2026 the “most challenging year since the company was founded” in terms of the collateral problems the memory crisis is causing, and that’s expected to impact shipping numbers for the company’s budget gaming laptops.
The best laptops for all budgets
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