THE CRUNCH
Memory makers are having a very good year, and everyone buying their chips is not. Industry DRAM revenue surged 369 percent year on year in Q3 2026 to nearly $200 billion, according to Counterpoint Research, as demand for datacenter capacity and AI accelerators kept prices climbing. Samsung led with a 38 percent share of DRAM revenue, while SK hynix and Micron also posted enormous profits.
The striking part is that the boom is mostly about price, not volume. Counterpoint senior analyst Jeongku Choi noted that bit shipments rose only about 4 percent in the quarter, yet revenue still hit close to five times last year's level. "AI has turned memory from a commodity into a valuable scarce resource, and buyers are now competing for supply rather than negotiating on price," he said.
The knock-on effects are already visible. Manufacturers have prioritised lucrative server memory, squeezing supply for PCs and smartphones. Average laptop and desktop prices in Europe rose by double-digit percentages this summer, and PC shipments fell as buyers balked. Smartphone shipments dropped by at least a fifth as rising memory costs pushed budget models out of the market.
The big three all cleaned up. Samsung forecast company-wide Q3 operating profit of about $80 billion, up from $9 billion a year earlier. SK hynix made a $62.8 billion profit and predicts memory shortages will persist until at least 2030. Micron's fiscal fourth-quarter net profit of $37.7 billion exceeded its entire second-quarter revenue of $23.8 billion.
Relief looks distant. Counterpoint research director MS Hwang expects prices to stay high next year, noting that long-term agreements are supporting prices and that major new fabs will not start production until 2028. Average DRAM selling prices reached $1.90 per gigabit, and while increases slowed from the first half's steep rises, Choi expects suppliers to set new earnings records again next quarter.