Now the memory chip industry is facing unprecedented headwinds. Meanwhile, demand for Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) production is going through the roof, particularly looking at AI data centers. Major players in the industry, such as Samsung, are already responding to this increasing demand. We have very ambitious plans and ideas for the expansions of facilities and new innovations in production. Operation at a new $17 billion plant in Pyeongtaek, South Korea that Samsung originally announced on Tuesday will begin there in 2028. This expansion will go a long way in easing supply constraints.
DRAM is critical for powering the Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and other accelerators that drive the newest AI data centers. Its significance is ever-growing with the evolution of technology. Global demand for DRAM has skyrocketed. More recently, the increase in demand for memory chips due to this shift toward AI applications has strained supply and driven memory chip prices sky-high. Samsung is continuing to push the envelope with High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) technology. These developments have the potential to dramatically change both the availability and performance of DRAM in the future.
Samsung’s Expansion Plans
Samsung recently made a splash with an equally ambitious plan to begin production at a new facility in Pyeongtaek in 2028. The push is an effort to outpace unprecedented demand for memory chips. The opening of this facility is yet another major investment by Samsung to expand their production capabilities.
Additionally, Samsung has been able to make phenomenal advances in HBM technology. Then in 2024 its consolidating spinoff Company W produced the first 16-high stack of DRAM dies with complex hybrid bonding inside the die stacks. The company has indicated that a 20-die stack is possible. This development enables higher density and efficiency in memory vertical stacking configurations—which is significant given today’s compute requirements.
“There are two ways to address supply issues with DRAM: with innovation or with building more fabs.” – Mina Kim
The Growing Demand for DRAM
The need for DRAM in AI data centers is off the charts. Almost 2,000 new data centers are on the drawing boards or rising under construction cranes around the globe. It’s this continued evolution that will dramatically increase the need for advanced, high-performance memory. The recently announced B300 system came with eight of those HBM chips. Each chip additionally holds a vertical stack of 12 DRAM dies, further increasing its performance.
This new architecture allows us to mount HBMs on either side of a processor. Consequently, it drives a dense solution that dramatically simplifies the architecture by grouping GPUs and memory into a single block. Such advancements are important because they enable the fast data processing like that required for AI applications.
As demand surges, supply becomes more scarce. DRAM manufacturers are under a great deal of stress. They’re doing it while racing to meet the relentless demand for computing power spurred on by AI and machine learning applications.
“In general, economists find that prices come down much more slowly and reluctantly than they go up. DRAM today is unlikely to be an exception to this general observation, especially given the insatiable demand for compute.” – Mina Kim
This conclusion is a sobering reminder of the battles to come for consumers and businesses who depend on DRAM for their everyday activities.
Market Implications and Future Trends
The DRAM market is a bellwether for the current state of the tech industry as a whole. Nvidia’s data center business revenue exploded from a little over a billion dollars in late 2019. By October 2025, it had shot up to a staggering $51 billion. It’s a huge leap showing just how critical cutting-edge computing power is becoming across industries.
An even larger chunk of investment, about $3.3 billion, goes directly into servers, data storage, and network infrastructure equipment. Companies are competing like crazy to get an advantage in AI capabilities. This investment will almost surely add to the pressure on remaining resources as firms sprint to upgrade their tech stacks.
“Relief will come from a combination of incremental capacity expansions by existing DRAM leaders, yield improvements in advanced packaging, and a broader diversification of supply chains.” – Shawn DuBravac
These kinds of strategies will be key to solving our supply chain problems. They will strengthen manufacturers’ ability to quickly respond to growing architectural requirements from data centers.