DRAM Memory Prices Rise for 6 Consecutive Months! Domestic Major Manufacturer Refuses to Cut Prices

The DRAM price surge continues. June contract prices were finalized at 6% above the previous month, with 16GB DDR5 contract prices rising for the sixth consecutive month to ultimately settle at approximately $38.30 per unit.

The root cause of this round of price hikes lies in imbalanced capacity allocation. The three DRAM giants — Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology — are prioritizing supply to the AI sector, shifting substantial capacity toward high-margin products needed for data centers, leaving general-purpose DRAM in short supply.

A memory manufacturer revealed that roughly 50% of total DRAM output is now directly supplied to hyperscale cloud providers such as Google and Microsoft, significantly squeezing the share available for the PC and consumer markets.

Several industry insiders said hyperscale cloud providers began accelerating DRAM procurement around the second quarter of 2025. Driven by AI server demand, DRAM prices have been rising at a race-like pace. Even after cloud giants signed LTA long-term contracts to lock in supply, they still could not fully secure sufficient capacity.

Separately, it is reported that Apple attempted to use its massive procurement scale to negotiate lower DRAM prices with ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), aiming to cut manufacturing costs for next-generation iPhones and other devices.

However, CXMT directly rejected the price-cut demand. Domestic DRAM manufacturers hold ample leverage during the price-increase cycle — even Apple's bargaining power no longer works.

TechInsights analyst Mike Howard said, "CXMT has significantly narrowed the price gap with the three giants, and its price levels are now basically on par with other companies." During negotiations, "there were even cases where its quotations were higher than Samsung's."