Storage Chip Prices Rebound: AI Data Center Demand Becomes the Biggest Driver, Clear Signs of Industry Recovery in Q3 2026

In the third quarter of 2026, the global storage chip market has finally broken free from the downward pressure since 2024, and prices are showing a clear rebound. According to data from the semiconductor industry research institution, the Average Selling Price (ASP) for DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) rose by about 6% quarter-on-quarter in Q3 2026, while NAND Flash (Flash Memory) prices increased by about 4%. This change marks the storage chip industry moving from an "inventory digestion period" to a "supply and demand rebalancing period," laying the foundation for future market recovery. Over the past two years, the storage chip market experienced severe supply and demand imbalances. In 2024, due to weak consumer electronics demand, declining smartphone shipments, and slowing data center construction, storage chip inventories were high, and prices continued to fall. Taking DRAM as an example, prices fell by over 30% cumulatively in 2024, and NAND Flash prices fell by about 25%. Manufacturers had to reduce capacity and adjust product structure to cope with inventory pressure, leading to significant declines in storage business profits for major manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Sunlight Technology. Entering 2026, the situation is starting to change. With the proliferation of AI technology, especially the surge in training and inference demands for Large Language Models (LLMs), the demand for high-performance storage in data centers is exploding. AI training requires large amounts of memory to process massive data, while the inference stage requires high-speed storage for rapid data access. This makes data centers the largest demand segment for storage chips, replacing traditional consumer electronics and smartphones, becoming the dominant force in the market. ## I. Storage Chip Market Reaches Bottom and Rebound: Positive Price Trend Signals In the third quarter of 2026, the global storage chip market has finally broken free from the downward pressure since 2024, and prices are showing a clear rebound. According to data from the semiconductor industry research institution, the Average Selling Price (ASP) for DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) rose by about 6% quarter-on-quarter in Q3 2026, while NAND Flash (Flash Memory) prices increased by about 4%. This change marks the storage chip industry moving from an "inventory digestion period" to a "supply and demand rebalancing period," laying the foundation for future market recovery. Over the past two years, the storage chip market experienced severe supply and demand imbalances. In 2024, due to weak consumer electronics demand, declining smartphone shipments, and slowing data center construction, storage chip inventories were high, and prices continued to fall. Taking DRAM as an example, prices fell by over 30% cumulatively in 2024, and NAND Flash prices fell by about 25%. Manufacturers had to reduce capacity and adjust product structure to cope with inventory pressure, leading to significant declines in storage business profits for major manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Sunlight Technology. Entering 2026, the situation is starting to change. With the proliferation of AI technology, especially the surge in training and inference demands for Large Language Models (LLMs), the demand for high-performance storage in data centers is exploding. AI training requires large amounts of memory to process massive data, while the inference stage requires high-speed storage for rapid data access. This makes data centers the largest demand segment for storage chips, replacing traditional consumer electronics and smartphones, becoming the dominant force in the market. ## II. Explosion in AI Data Center Demand: The Core Driver for Storage Chip Recovery ### 1. Increased Demand for Storage Due to AI Training and Inference AI large model training requires massive amounts of memory and storage resources. Taking GPT-4 as an example, its training process requires thousands of GPUs working in tandem, with each GPU needing a large amount of DRAM to store intermediate data. Estimates suggest that training a trillion-parameter model requires about 1.5TB of DRAM and 10TB of NAND Flash. As more enterprises invest in AI research and development, the demand for AI training continues to grow, driving up the demand for DRAM and NAND Flash. Furthermore, although the memory requirements during the AI inference stage are lower than during training, the requirement for storage responsiveness is higher. Inference needs fast access to pre-trained model data, so the demand for high-speed NAND Flash (such as PCIe 5.0 SSDs) is also increasing. This changes the demand structure for storage chips, shifting from the "high volume, low price" consumer electronics demand to the "high quality, high price" AI demand. ### 2. Data Center Expansion Accelerates, Storage Demand Continues to Release Major global cloud service providers (such as Amazon AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure) are accelerating data center construction to meet AI application demands. According to market research firm Synergy Research Group data, in the first half of 2026, global data center capital expenditure increased by 18% year-over-year, with storage equipment expenditure accounting for 25%, significantly higher than 15% in 2024. These data centers require large amounts of storage chips to support AI workloads, further driving up the demand for storage chips. For example, Amazon announced an investment of $10 billion to expand its data center in 2026, with equipment procurement reaching $2.5 billion; Google Cloud plans to increase storage capacity by 30% in 2026 to meet AI customer needs. The implementation of these large projects will continue to release demand for storage chips in the second half of 2026. ## Three, Supply and Demand Landscape Adjustment: Supply Contraction and Demand Growth Form a Synergy ### 1. Supply Side: Manufacturers Reduce Capacity, Supply Approaches Equilibrium In 2024-2025, storage chip manufacturers have reduced capacity to cope with inventory pressure. Samsung Electronics reduced DRAM capacity by 10%, SK Hynix by 8%, and Micron Technology by 12%. These measures will reduce the supply of storage chips in 2026, creating conditions for price rebounds. Entering 2026, manufacturers are adjusting their capacity strategies. Samsung Electronics announced in Q2 2026 that DRAM capacity utilization will increase from 75% to 85%, while SK Hynix plans to increase NAND Flash capacity utilization to 90% in the second half of 2026. These adjustments will gradually match the supply of storage chips with demand, shifting the supply and demand landscape from oversupply to tight balance. ### 2. Demand Side: AI Demand Growth Compensates for Decline in Traditional Demand Although demand for consumer electronics and smartphones remains weak, the growth in demand for AI data centers is enough to offset this decline. According to IDC data, global AI data center storage expenditure will reach $150 billion in 2026, a year-over-year increase of 35%, while traditional storage expenditure grew by only 5%. This keeps overall demand for storage chips growing, supporting the price rebound. ## Four, Opportunities for Thai Semiconductor Companies: Packaging, Testing, and Supply Chain Layout Thailand plays a crucial role in the semiconductor packaging and testing industry as a major base for global semiconductor testing. Sunlight Technology has multiple packaging and testing facilities in Thailand, primarily producing DRAM and NAND Flash products. Furthermore, local semiconductor companies in Thailand are actively developing packaging and testing businesses for storage chips, such as Thai electronic component manufacturers (like Delta Electronics) are expanding their storage chip packaging capacity. With the growing demand for storage chips, packaging and testing enterprises in Thailand will benefit from increased orders. For example, Sunlight's factory in Thailand saw a 10% increase in capacity utilization in Q3 2026, and order volume grew by 20% year-on-year. The performance improvement of these companies will be reflected in stock prices, becoming a focus for investors. In addition, the Thai government is promoting the development of the semiconductor industry by attracting foreign investment through BOI (Board of Investment Commission) policies and encouraging investment in storage chip-related projects. For instance, the Thai government launched the "Semiconductor Industry Upgrade Plan" in 2026, offering tax incentives and land support to storage chip packaging and testing enterprises, further enhancing the competitiveness of Thailand's semiconductor industry.## V. Future Outlook: Trends for the Second Half of 2026 and 2027 Looking ahead to the second half of 2026, the storage chip market will continue to maintain a recovery trend. The demand for AI data centers will continue to grow, driving further price increases for DRAM and NAND Flash. It is projected that DRAM prices will rise by 15% in full-year 2026, and NAND Flash prices will rise by 12%. In 2027, with the further popularization of AI applications, the demand for storage chips will continue to increase. Simultaneously, new storage technologies (such as HBM, High Bandwidth Memory) will become increasingly prevalent, becoming new growth points in the storage chip market. HBM is mainly used for AI training, and its demand is projected to reach $10 billion in 2027, a year-on-year increase of 50%. For investors, the recovery in the storage chip industry offers good investment opportunities. It is recommended to monitor the stocks of storage chip manufacturers (such as Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Sunlight Technology) and Thai semiconductor packaging and testing enterprises (such as Sunlight Thailand, Delta Electronics). These companies are expected to achieve double gains in performance and stock price driven by the growth in AI demand.