South Korean brokerage Meritz Securities said memory chip makers have already received orders for 2027 and 2028 that far exceed their available production capacity. The firm said that even if Democrats gain an advantage in the U.S. midterm elections and some data center projects are delayed or adjusted, that would be unlikely to fundamentally change the shortage in memory chip supply.
Fulfillment rates have stayed low this year
Meritz said memory chip order fulfillment rates this year, defined as the ratio of available production capacity to order volume, have remained at a relatively low 80% to 85%. That has helped push memory chip prices sharply higher. The brokerage expects the supply-demand gap to widen further in 2027, with the fulfillment rate potentially falling to around 80%.
Altman sought long-term customized memory supply
The report said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, during a recent visit to South Korea, asked SK hynix and Samsung Electronics to provide customized memory products including high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, for 2027 through 2030. The scale of that demand was said to exceed the supply capacity available from the two companies.
Samsung cited multi-year agreements with large customers
Community user Teng Yan added that Samsung said in an Oct. 29 call with Meritz that 10 large customers had already signed multi-year memory supply agreements, while an equal number of customers were in discussions. Demand for memory has also expanded beyond cloud service giants and AI server manufacturers into more sectors.
On that basis, Meritz said slower approvals for U.S. data centers would affect only part of the order book and would be unlikely to alter the broader tight supply-demand balance.
