A brief overview of a few niche DRAM and memory module companies, mostly in Taiwan.
AI arms race fuels memory chip demand, DRAM bull market begins
Siu Han, Taipei; Emily Kuo, DIGITIMES Asia
Thursday 9 October 2025
Credit: DIGITIMES Asia
Niche and standard DRAM prices are rising sharply; ADATA, Apacer, Elite Semiconductor Microelectronics Technology (ESMT), and several other companies all posted record highs in revenue for September 2025. ADATA chairman Simon Chen stated that market conditions have rapidly reversed since late August 2025. He emphasized that the fourth quarter of 2025 is just the beginning of a major bull market for memory and the beginning of a serious supply shortage. He is optimistic about a booming industry in 2026.
CSP demand drives memory boom
With the accelerating AI arms race, rigid demand from global cloud service providers (CSPs) will continue to drive contract prices of DRAM and NAND Flash upward and will open the door to a prosperous memory industry cycle in 2026.
Memory module maker ADATA posted its third-highest monthly revenue in history—the highest in nearly 19 years—reaching NT$5.244 billion (US$171.5 million), up 5.24% month-on-month and 61.18% year-on-year. Third quarter 2025 consolidated revenue totaled NT$14.488 billion, up 55.19% year-on-year and 13.33% quarter-on-quarter. Apacer also set a new historical high in September 2025 revenue, reaching NT$1.165 billion, with a 15.7% monthly increase and an 88.6% yearly increase, marking three consecutive months of exceeding NT$1 billion.
Supply shortage looms
Chen noted that CSP giants' memory demand for 2026 is far higher than expected, prompting them to place orders early to secure supply. This has driven upstream original manufacturers to suspend price quotes, reallocate capacity, and begin raising prices. The fourth quarter of 2025 marks the true beginning of a memory bull cycle, but also the onset of a severe shortage.
As AI applications shift from training to inference and server scale expands rapidly, production capacity originally allocated to PCs and smartphones is being reduced. With a clear contraction in supply, 2026 may face tight supply and rising prices.
ADATA rides AI upgrade wave
ADATA's cumulative revenue for the first three quarters of 2025 reached NT$37.173 billion, a 22.9% year-on-year increase. Full-year revenue is expected to hit a record high. DRAM contributed nearly 60% of total revenue at 59.62%, SSDs 27.25%, and memory cards, USB drives, and other products 13.13%. ADATA stated it will continue focusing on enterprise-grade high-capacity SSDs and DDR5/server memory to ride the AI-driven upgrade wave.
Niche DRAM sees price catch-up
ESMT(3006.TW) also reported that although niche DRAM market prices began rising in the second quarter of 2025, contract prices took longer to react. As DDR4 price momentum spills over, DDR3 demand has clearly heated up. ESMT expects the price catch-up effect for DDR3 and other niche DRAMs to appear in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Although DDR4 only accounts for 5% of ESMT's sales, the recent strong price increases are expected to raise its share further. DDR2 and DDR3 account for 45%, and DDR3 spot market demand has seen double-digit monthly growth in recent months. ESMT's consolidated revenue in September 2025 reached NT$1.308 billion, a nearly 6% year-on-year increase and over 16% growth from August 2025.
The market expects that with the rebound in DRAM prices and seasonal demand support, second-half operations will outperform the first half. There is optimism regarding fourth-quarter performance.
Flash memory demand strengthens
Meanwhile, Macronix reported September 2025 consolidated revenue of NT$2.903 billion, up 13.5% month-on-month and 9.4% year-on-year. Cumulative revenue for the first nine months of 2025 reached NT$21.151 billion, up 5.9% year-on-year. Its growth was mainly driven by seasonal demand from Japanese game console customers in the third quarter of 2025, boosting ROM shipments, while high-density SLC NAND saw increasing demand due to legacy capacity being squeezed by cloud AI and major players exiting supply.
However, while NOR Flash prices have reportedly begun to trend upward, industry dynamics are still in flux and will remain closely monitored. |
