Why Is the World Facing a Severe Memory Shortage?

At the beginning of 2026, the global memory market has fallen into a severe structural shortage. Based on news reports from industry leaders, the key reasons are summarized below:

1. SK Hynix: 2026 Capacity Completely Sold Out

The manufacturing process for HBM3E and HBM4 is extremely complex. Producing a single High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) unit consumes three times the wafer capacity of traditional DRAM. This "capacity crowding effect" has led to a significant supply gap for DDR4 and DDR5 used in standard PCs and smartphones.

2. Samsung Electronics: Warning of Industry-Wide Price Surges

Samsung is currently focusing all its efforts on securing technical leadership and mass production for HBM4. To maximize profits amidst the AI boom, Samsung is pivoting its cleanroom space and capital expenditure away from consumer-grade memory toward high-margin enterprise products.

3. Micron Technology: Exiting Low-Margin Markets

Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra confirmed that their HBM supply for 2026 is already sold out. The company has begun phasing out certain low-end consumer memory brands to shift its focus entirely toward data centers and AI clientele.

CES 2026: "Memory is Computing Power"

Observations from CES 2026 earlier this month reveal that memory is no longer a supporting character; it is now viewed as the "lifeline" of AI performance. During his keynote, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang emphasized that future AI will require more than just fast responses—it will need "long-term memory" and "reasoning contextual memory" capabilities.

Put simply: Insufficient memory makes AI "dumber." CES 2026 has firmly established the status of "Memory as Computing Power."m

The Role of Specialized Tapes in the Supply Chain

The global memory shortage is unlikely to ease within the next year or two, as facility expansion and factory construction take time. Furthermore, the memory manufacturing process requires a vast array of semiconductor tapes for stages such as wafer processing, lithography, metallization, and packaging.

Solar plus company provides a comprehensive range of solutions for these processes, including:

UV Dicing Tapes
Thermal Release Tapes
Silicone Tapes
Anti-static Tapes
PI Masking Tapes

Looking back at 2025, Taiwan's total semiconductor exports showed a significant upward trend. As a vital part of the semiconductor supply chain, Solar plus company will go all out in the coming year to continue providing the latest and highest-quality semiconductor tapes, contributing to the strength of Taiwan's local semiconductor cluster.