Korean customs data reveals monthly surge in storage prices: SSD soars 63%, HBM increases 19%

South Korea’s latest customs import and export data show that the prices of DRAM and NAND flash memory have experienced significant jumps within a single month, reflecting a structural supply and demand imbalance in the global storage market driven by AI demand.

Among them, NAND flash product prices surged 63.1% month-on-month, HBM memory prices increased 18.7% month-on-month, and bare DRAM chip prices also rose over 20% month-on-month. The data covers the period from April to May 10, 2026, and compared to the same period last year, the main categories have generally increased between 165% and 500%.

Major manufacturers such as Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron are accelerating capacity expansion. However, Samsung pointed out that the supply and demand tension in the storage market in 2027 may worsen further compared to 2026, as it takes at least two to three years from the start of new wafer fab construction to mass production, making it difficult for supply to substantially ease in the short term.

DRAM and HBM: AI supercycle drives demand surge

According to Korean customs data, the price of bare DRAM chips (excluding memory modules) increased 20.9% month-on-month from April to May 10, with an almost 500% year-on-year increase. This year-over-year figure directly reflects the deep demand pull from AI computing power expansion.

As a core component of AI servers, HBM prices rose 18.7% month-on-month, with a year-on-year increase of 165.5%. Currently, HBM is a key storage solution for AI chip platforms like Nvidia, and its price trend directly affects the construction costs of downstream data centers.

Memory products based on DRAM modules (covering standards such as DDR5 U-DIMM, SODIMM, RDIMM, as well as standard DDR and LPDDR formats) saw a slight month-on-month decline of 13.9%, but overall memory category prices still increased by 28.8% month-on-month and 326.3% year-on-year.

NAND flash monthly increase leads, quarterly increase may reach 75%

NAND flash is the most prominent category in this round of price hikes. Data shows that NAND flash product prices increased 63.1% month-on-month, with a year-on-year increase of 351.6%.

Market research firm TrendForce pointed out that enterprise contract prices are especially rising: contract prices for SSDs based on MLC particles increased about 50%, while those based on SLC particles increased about 20%. The industry focus has clearly shifted toward AI-oriented storage products, with Micron, Samsung, SK Hynix, Kioxia, and others accelerating their deployment in this niche market.

Based on current trends, TrendForce expects NAND prices to increase by a total of 70% to 75% in this quarter.

Consumer SSDs show divergence: weak PC demand causes spot prices to fall

Despite continuous price increases for enterprise and AI-related storage products, the consumer side shows a clear divergence. TrendForce data indicates that spot prices for TLC particle-based consumer SSDs have fallen 30% to 40%.

This downward pressure stems from a noticeable slowdown in PC market demand. The high price environment has suppressed consumer willingness to purchase, leading to inventory buildup in general consumer SSDs, and spot prices have accordingly come under pressure.

The price trends of enterprise and consumer storage markets are thus moving in opposite directions, and the divergence in supply and demand structures is accelerating the reshaping of profit distribution across the entire NAND industry chain.

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