Market research firm TrendForce forecast on the 9th that server DRAM contract prices would rise by 13% to 18% quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter.
According to TrendForce, the primary driver of the price increase is expanding demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. However, long-term supply agreements (LTAs) held by some large customers are acting as a partial brake on the scale of price gains.
TrendForce explained that customers operating under such agreements are able to lock in contract prices below prevailing spot-market rates, which has the effect of dampening the overall average increase.
The research firm also cited a sharp surge in demand for HBM (high-bandwidth memory) as a contributing factor. With Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron diverting significant production capacity towards HBM, the three leading manufacturers have less room to supply conventional server DRAM, further tightening the market and supporting higher prices.