Micron Technology Inc. has named former TSMC chairman Mark Liu to its board of directors, marking his first board appointment at an international semiconductor firm since stepping down from TSMC.
As competition intensifies in the development of large language models and with the launch of DeepSeek, the industry is beginning to seek memory alternatives outside of high bandwidth memory (HBM). AP Memory has announced that it is fully committed to integrating very high-bandwidth memory (VHM) technology into artificial intelligence high-performance computing (AI HPC) design production, aiming to complete its first AI HPC product design in 2025.
The memory industry observes that advance stockpiling in response to tariffs began before the Lunar New Year. Under the pressure of future tariff increases, Chinese memory module producers may shift their operating strategy of hoarding massive volumes of products, potentially resulting in improved market conditions.
SK Hynix America, the US branch of SK Hynix, is seeing significant revenue growth due to the demand for HBM. In 2024, its revenue rose about 2.6 times from the previous year.
Micron Technology has delivered its sixth-generation 10nm DRAM samples ahead of schedule, pressuring Samsung Electronics as it struggles with yield issues and design adjustments. South Korean media, including ZDNet Korea and Seoul Economic Daily, report that Micron's 1γ DRAM shipments are outpacing market leader Samsung, raising industry concerns.
On February 27th, Adata announced the formalization of a strategic partnership with Itochu Corporation, a prominent Japanese conglomerate, and its subsidiary, Itochu Retail Link Corporation. The collaboration aims to capitalize on emerging opportunities in the Japanese memory market.
SK Hynix has reportedly reached a significant milestone in its pre-production trials by raising the yield rate of its sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4) to 70%. This achievement strengthens the South Korean semiconductor company's position in the competitive HBM4 market, as industry observers eagerly await its next moves.
The DRAM market is expected to remain at the industry's low point in the first half of 2025. According to Nanya Technology president, Pei-ing Lee, Chinese competitors' DRAM production capacity has far surpassed that of Nanya. Although major Chinese manufacturers focus on LPDDR4, without their output ramp-up, the DRAM market would have already recovered.
Prices of mature process memory, long hit by oversupply due to fast capacity expansion at Chinese makers, are expected to rebound, thanks to the Chinese government's consumption stimulus programs.
SK Hynix has advanced the groundbreaking of its first-phase Yongin Semiconductor Cluster plant (Yongin 1) from March 2025 to late February 2025 after the Yongin Special City government fast-tracked approvals.
Donald Trump, President of the United States, has repeatedly signaled potential tariff increases on semiconductors and possible adjustments to the CHIPS Act subsidies, intensifying pressure on South Korean-based technology corporations such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to ramp up their US investments.
According to the official press release Micron Technology announced the shipment of samples of its 1γ, sixth-generation (10nm-class) DRAM-based DDR5 memory to ecosystem partners and select customers. This marks the industry's first shipment of 1γ DRAM, designed for next-generation CPUs.
Shih-Jye Cheng, chairman of ChipMOS, a leading memory packaging and testing company, announced that the company's first-quarter revenue is expected to experience modest declines, primarily due to fewer working days and seasonal adjustments. This dip will affect both memory and driver IC sales.
South Korea's NAND flash leaders, Samsung and SK Hynix, face a potential threat as Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp. (YMTC) takes the lead in hybrid bonding for 400+ layer 3D NAND. YMTC continues to enhance its technology while aggressively securing patents. Reports indicate it has successfully commercialized 270+ layer 3D NAND, marking a major industry milestone.
DeepSeek's emergence is accelerating edge AI adoption, challenging the reliance on Nvidia's ecosystem. Silicon Motion CEO Wallace Kou sees its rise as a shift in AI development strategy. The growing adoption of small language models (SLMs) is also fueling demand in the memory sector, benefiting DRAM and NAND flash.
The Taiwan Semiconductor Research Institute (TSRI), under the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), announced at a press conference held by Taiwan's National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs) on February 25 that it has successfully developed a new high-density, high-bandwidth 3D DRAM in cooperation with Taiwanese memory maker Macronix International.
Samsung Electronics has reportedly signed a patent licensing agreement with Chinese NAND Flash manufacturer Yangtze Memory Technology Corp (YMTC) to license its Hybrid Bonding technology for use in YMTC's next-generation NAND products.
SK Hynix will finalize its acquisition of Intel's NAND flash business, now rebranded as Solidigm, in March 2025. This strategic move strengthens its enterprise SSD (eSSD) market position and accelerates its NAND business expansion.
The global AI boom is set to keep high bandwidth memory (HBM) in short supply through 2025, as demand surges across AI and data-intensive applications, according to experts at SEMICON Korea 2025. Industry forecasts project a 67% expansion in the HBM market by 2025, reinforcing AI's role as the driving force behind semiconductor sector growth.
Apacer CEO C.K. Chang believes that the drop in NAND Flash and DRAM prices is almost over, with little room for further declines. Prices are expected to rise in the second quarter, but procurement activities may exceed market recovery.
As AI applications advance, the demand for high-performance and energy-efficient memory is growing across on-device AI, high-performance computing (HPC), and data centers. In response, Samsung Electronics (Samsung) plans to introduce low power wide I/O (LPW) DRAM in 2028, a next-generation memory technology designed to enhance on-device AI performance and solidify its leadership in the mobile memory sector.
SK Hynix CEO Noh-Jung Kwak, reflecting on the emergence of China's DeepSeek, predicts that the generative AI model will ultimately have a positive impact on the semiconductor industry in the long run.
In recent years, Quad-Level Cell (QLC) NAND has gradually penetrated mainstream applications such as PCs and enterprise-level storage, but it has yet to make substantial inroads into the mobile phone supply chain. Numerous media stories have indicated that Apple was considering the adoption of QLC NAND to cut costs; nevertheless, these claims remain unverified.
