【Storage Market (DRAM/NAND/HBM)】
1. General DRAM remains in tight supply, as original manufacturers shift production capacity toward HBM. Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron continue to allocate wafer capacity priority to major AI customers (HBM, DDR5). The spot supply fulfillment rate for general DRAM is below 50%, making component procurement difficult for distribution channels, while original manufacturers have tightened quotas for small‑and‑medium‑sized customers.
2. DDR5: Spot prices for 16Gb remain at high levels with mild fluctuations in late August, and prices for some capacities keep climbing.
3. DDR4: Spot prices stay elevated, with evident material shortages for module manufacturers and white‑label OEMs.
4. Consumer mobile segment: eMMC and certain LPDDR4X parts have instead weakened. End‑user consumer electronics carry high inventory levels. Spot prices for 64GB eMMC and 48/64Gb LPDDR4X have edged down as inventory is released across channels, creating a clear divergence between consumer‑grade storage and AI server‑grade storage.
5. MLC NAND prices rise month‑on‑month. Institutions forecast that SLC NAND prices may increase by 50% per quarter in coming quarters, driven by robust demand from industrial control and automotive applications.
6. TLC NAND shows mixed price movements across different capacities. On August 27, Kioxia announced a massive capacity‑expansion plan, committing a total of 5 trillion Japanese yen to NAND business by 2032, including the construction of new Fab3 to meet AI storage demand. Capacity expansion will not come online until 2029 and cannot ease current supply shortages in the short term (International Finance News).
7. CXMT LPDDR6 has entered mass production and been sent to key customers for sampling. It delivers a data rate of 12800Mbps targeting mobile, automotive and server applications and is undergoing qualification and validation.
【Passive Components (MLCC/Inductors)】
1. Samsung Electro‑Mechanics announced price adjustments for Q4 (TrendForce).
2. Consumer‑grade X5R: OEM quotations increased by 25‑30%.
3. High‑end X6S for AI servers: prices raised by 10‑20%. The price adjustment is aimed not only at boosting revenue but also curbing over‑ordering and reallocating capacity toward high‑capacitance MLCC for AI servers. An 8‑GPU AI training server consumes approximately 48,000 MLCC units, far exceeding the 2,200 units used in a conventional server, fueling explosive demand for high‑end high‑capacitance models.
4. According to UBS data released on August 27, global MLCC distributor inventories fell another 8% between July 11 and August 9, hitting a new historic low. Inventory value rose 10%, and the unit‑price index climbed 7%.
5. Maijie Technology: Its TLVR has passed reliability validation for NVIDIA Rubin platform and been added to the AVL, with small‑volume deliveries underway. Its overall market share remains low (less than 5%), positioning it as a third‑source / backup supplier. Meanwhile, its 224G Bias‑Tee optical‑module inductors are supplied in volume to leading domestic optical‑module manufacturers.