The global storage chip market is currently experiencing an unprecedented price surge, with analysts predicting that this “super bull market” cycle could continue into the first half of 2027.

Samsung Electronics announced preliminary results showing that its operating profit for Q4 2025 reached 20 trillion KRW (approximately $13.82 billion), a year-on-year increase of 208%, marking the highest quarterly profit in the company’s history. Revenue for the same period rose 23% to 93 trillion KRW, surpassing the 80 trillion KRW mark for two consecutive quarters.

The strong performance is driven by supply shortages and surging demand fueled by artificial intelligence (AI). The training and operation of AI models have significantly increased demand for high-performance memory chips, keeping global supply chains tight. Industry forecasts indicate that memory prices rose 40%–50% in Q4 2025 and may increase by another 40%–50% in Q1 2026, with an additional 20% rise expected in Q2 2026.

Price growth varies across different chip specifications. DDR4 memory is expected to see contract prices surge about 90% in Q1 2026, even exceeding DDR5 increases. This is largely due to the three major manufacturers shifting production capacity to high-end DDR5, LPDDR, and HBM products, causing DDR4 supply to shrink sharply. Samsung had originally planned to discontinue DDR4 production at the end of 2025, but supply-demand imbalances delayed the shutdown to the end of 2026.