Samsung-linked distributors and dealerships are now reportedly instituting massive price hikes on memory products, to the tune of 80 percent if the latest document doing the rounds on social media airwaves is anything to go by.
An alleged notice shows an authorized Samsung distributor announcing that "prices for all Samsung memory products will increase by up to 80%"
An authorized Samsung dealership has just announced a massive price hike of up to 80 percent for memory products. The price hikes are effective immediately.
While we have not been able to independently confirm these price hikes, an employee with DS Giheung - a common name for Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions Campus in Giheung, South Korea - has been identified as the purported source for this tidbit.
This comes as Samsung reportedly only plans to increase its DRAM output by a measly 5 percent this year, even in the face of a massive demand surge and the attendant supply bottlenecks that are now becoming increasingly common.
While some of this caution is likely being driven by fears of an eventual supply glut once the AI-led demand for high bandwidth memory (HBM) exits its exponential growth stage, price gouging is also likely to have played at least some part in the supply calculus of Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron, all of whom remain unusually reluctant to expand supply.
And, it's not just DRAM products that are experiencing curtailed supplies. We reported recently that Samsung and SK hynix are eyeing NAND production cuts as well, while citing the greater profitability of DRAM products as the casus belli for diverting resources away from NAND production lines. We reached out to Samsung, which gave us the response, 'Samsung does not comment on industry rumors and speculation.'
What's more, as per an estimation by TrendForce, the overall output value of the memory industry is expected to reach $551.6 billion in 2026, and then climb to a record high of $842.7 billion in 2027, corresponding to a year-over-year growth rate of over 53 percent. So, a lot of opportunities for price gouging appear to be in the offing over the coming months.
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