memory chips

Samsung Elect

2026-10-02 07:55:58

Samsung reportedly seeks sharply higher HBM4 pricing for 2027 as Micron says supply is largely booked

Samsung Electronics has reportedly proposed a mid-to-high $4 per Gb price for 2027 HBM4 supply in talks with major customers, according to South Korea’s Maeil Business Newspaper. That compares with roughly $1.5 per Gb for current mainstream HBM3E, putting the new quote at more than three times higher. The report said much of next year’s HBM capacity has already been discussed and pricing talks are expected to wrap up within this month, making the outcome important for Samsung’s average selling price and profit profile. Micron added another signal on supply tightness. In its fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter earnings call on Oct. 1, the company said it had already signed contracts covering most of its 2027 HBM bit supply. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said HBM pricing next year would be "well above 2026," and that HBM profitability, which had recently lagged conventional DRAM, would improve as prices rise. TrendForce estimates average HBM selling prices in 2027 will climb about 121% from this year, citing tight supply, a larger mix of higher-priced HBM4, and volume ramp for HBM4E in the second half of next year. Counterpoint Research data also showed Samsung’s HBM revenue share rose from 21% in Q1 to 33% in Q2, while SK hynix remained the market leader.

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Micron

2026-09-30 21:34:42

Micron posts 87% gross margin as Q1 outlook tops market estimates

Micron Technology reported quarterly results and forward guidance that came in ahead of market expectations, helped by strong demand tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure. For the first quarter of fiscal 2027 ending in November, the memory chipmaker said it expects revenue of about $61.5 billion and earnings per share of about $38.15, above analyst averages of $56.8 billion and $36.02. For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026 ended Sept. 3, Micron posted revenue of $54.2 billion and earnings per share of $33.42, also ahead of consensus estimates of $51.5 billion and $31.83. Adjusted gross margin reached 87%, topping the expected 86.2%. The report said large-scale AI data center expansion has driven a surge in demand for high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, benefiting Micron, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix as memory prices rise. At the same time, supply for consumer products such as laptops and game consoles has been squeezed as advanced memory capacity is pulled toward AI-related demand. Micron shares rose about 2% in after-hours trading, and the stock is up 273% this year, making it the best-performing component in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.

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Micron

2026-09-30 14:21:45

Micron earnings preview: EPS seen up 940% year over year, with profit contribution potentially topping Nvidia

Micron Technology is scheduled to report fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter results after the U.S. stock market closes on Wednesday. According to FactSet, analysts expect earnings per share for Micron’s quarter ended in August to rise about 940% from a year earlier. If that forecast is met, Micron could surpass Nvidia for the first time in at least two and a half years to become the single largest contributor to S&P 500 profit growth in the third quarter. FactSet estimates overall S&P 500 earnings growth at 29.1% year over year, but that figure would drop to 24% without Micron, implying the company alone adds roughly 5 percentage points to the index’s growth rate. Another key focus for investors is the production ramp of HBM4. Susquehanna analyst Mehdi Hosseini said large-scale production and shipments tied to Nvidia’s Rubin platform may be concentrated after April 2027, suggesting any major revenue lift from HBM4 for Micron may largely show up in 2027.

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Apple

2026-09-30 03:36:08

Apple’s New CEO Plans Job Cuts as Memory Chip Costs Climb

Apple’s new CEO John Ternus is preparing layoffs across several departments less than a month into the role, according to a Sept. 29 Bloomberg report cited by MarsBit. The planned cuts include small reductions in large teams and the cancellation of some early-stage projects seen as contributing little to revenue. The move comes as Apple faces mounting pressure from rising memory chip costs, which Morgan Stanley said are a key reason the company’s gross margin guidance for the fourth quarter of 2026 sits at 47% to 48%. TrendForce data cited in the report shows the bill of materials for a 256GB iPhone 18 Pro rose about 38% year over year, with memory’s share jumping from roughly 10% to around 34%, and potentially exceeding 40% in the first half of 2027. At the same time, Apple’s services business has shown signs of weakening. Services revenue reached $30.74 billion in the June 2026 quarter, up 12% from a year earlier but below analyst expectations and down nearly 0.8% sequentially. The report says Apple is also testing DRAM chips from China’s CXMT for iPhones and Macs sold in China, while lobbying Washington for approval to source chips from CXMT and YMTC for mainland China-bound devices.

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Changxin Tech

2026-09-30 02:06:13

Changxin Tech commits another 34.9 billion yuan to next-generation DRAM after posting 77.605 billion yuan in first-half profit

Changxin Technology disclosed two major investment plans on Sept. 28, committing a combined 34.9 billion yuan to a DRAM technology R&D project and the second phase of a memory wafer back-end testing base. The move came after the company reported first-half 2026 revenue of 150.31 billion yuan, net profit attributable to shareholders of 77.605 billion yuan, and a core gross margin of 84.84%, according to a report published by MarsBit citing public filings and a WeChat article from Laika Think Tank. Of the planned investment, 18 billion yuan is set to come from IPO over-allotment proceeds, with the rest to be covered through capital increases and loans. On the same day, GigaDevice raised its estimated 2026 routine related-party transaction cap with Changxin Group from 5.711 billion yuan to 7.854 billion yuan, citing rising DRAM foundry prices. The report also noted weakness in U.S.-listed memory names around the same period, even as Changxin continued to expand capacity and strengthen its IDM back-end testing capabilities.

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Policy Regula

2026-09-29 00:27:14

Three Chinese cities made a storage-chip bet in 2016. A decade later, the outcomes could not be more different

In 2016, Wuhan, Hefei, and Jinjiang each moved into memory chips, a market then dominated 96% by Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron, while mainland China had almost no presence. Ten years later, those bets have split sharply. ChangXin Memory Technologies in Hefei listed on Shanghai’s STAR Market on July 27, 2026, with an issue price of RMB 8.66 and an opening price of RMB 49.5, giving it a market capitalization of RMB 3.31 trillion and making it, according to the source article, the largest A-share company by market value at the open. Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. in Wuhan has reached about 12% of the global NAND market and had its STAR Market IPO application accepted on Aug. 21, 2026. Fujian Jinhua, after being hit by U.S. export restrictions, shifted toward mature-process memory used in smart TVs, set-top boxes, printers, and routers. The article traces how the three projects were built, how local state capital backed them, and why their trajectories diverged. It also contrasts those survivors with failed semiconductor projects such as Wuhan Hongxin. A central thread is Hefei’s policy framework of tolerance for failure and due-diligence-based liability exemption, which the article presents as a key reason the city kept funding ChangXin through years of losses. It closes by noting that policy rules have since changed, with Beijing tightening restrictions on government investment funds used for招商-style industrial attraction.

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SK Hynix

2026-09-28 03:01:01

SK Hynix reportedly begins construction of memory chip plant in Japan

SK Hynix has reportedly begun construction of a memory chip plant in Japan, according to South Korean media outlet SME Daily. The report said the company had started foundation work for a semiconductor factory in northeastern Japan, even though it had said just one month earlier that no specific decision had been made. People familiar with the industry told the outlet that groundwork is already underway at the site. One industry source said it remains unclear whether the factory is being built solely by SK Hynix or as a joint venture with Kioxia. Still, the source said the start of foundation work indicates SK Hynix’s intention to enter the Japanese market. The same source also said SK Hynix recently asked domestic South Korean parts suppliers to increase shipments, a move described as part of the company’s response to tight memory chip supply.

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YMTC

2026-09-22 00:23:10

YMTC and CXMT May Face Off as Early as 2028 in China’s Memory Market

Global memory supply remains tight, with AI and cloud applications driving up demand and prices for DRAM and NAND Flash, according to ChainCatcher. The report says China’s two major memory makers, Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC) and ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), are moving beyond their traditional split focus. YMTC is preparing to enter LPDDR5 DRAM and aims to begin trial production by the end of 2026, while CXMT is reportedly pushing from DRAM into NAND Flash. Industry estimates cited in the report suggest the two companies could meet in direct competition as early as 2028. ChainCatcher also said YMTC has completed development of 294-layer 3D NAND using its Xtacking technology, and that Samsung reached a patent licensing deal with the company in 2025, with relevant patents to be used starting from the 10th-generation V-NAND. YMTC’s Phase III project is scheduled to begin production by the end of 2026 with initial DRAM capacity of about 25,000 wafers, ramping up in 2027 and targeting LPDDR5, HBM and 3D DRAM. CXMT is also said to be setting up a NAND R&D and production line in Beijing, with mass production estimated as early as 2028 to 2029.

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