Bank of America: DRAM price increases far exceed expectations, with Google’s Capex boosting storage demand

Shenchao TechFlow news: On July 27, according to Chao Xiang Research, Bank of America’s July 24 Global Memory Weekly report said that the July PC DRAM contract price rose 15%-20% quarter-over-quarter, and the third-quarter quarter-over-quarter increase could reach 30%-40%, far exceeding TrendForce’s forecast of 13%-18%. Spot prices also strengthened in tandem. In South Korea, semiconductor exports in the first 20 days of July totaled $22.1 billion, up 181% year-over-year. China’s memory imports in June reached $32 billion, a record high, up about 250% year-over-year. ChangXin Memory’s capacity expansion impact remains limited.

Bank of America analysts expect Google’s capital expenditures for 2026 and 2027 to be $200 billion and $300 billion, respectively, up sharply from $91 billion in 2025, implying that in 2027 Google would need to purchase more than 50% additional storage chips compared with 2026. Google’s annual cash and cash equivalents for 2026-2028 will exceed $50 billion, which is a positive signal for storage-chip capacity expansion. Samsung Electronics’ July 30 earnings call is expected to announce large-scale share buybacks, an earlier dividend, and more optimistic guidance for the second half of the year/2027, and Bank of America maintains a Buy rating on Samsung.