Overview
- Team Group chief Gerry Chen said the tightest stretch runs through the end of the second quarter of 2027 and that even having money may not secure product, reflecting record third-quarter results and a sharp shift to B2B and AI customers.
- Contract prices for 16Gb DDR5 chips jumped from roughly $8.70 to about $48 over a year, and buyers are paying 30 to 50 percent premiums on the spot market when contracted volumes are not delivered.
- Major suppliers have redirected wafer output to high‑bandwidth memory for AI servers and to premium DDR5, which directly reduces the wafers available for mainstream consumer DRAM and NAND.
- New assembly capacity like Team Group’s New Taipei City plant will start in the second quarter of 2027 but cannot ease the shortage until upstream wafer fabs ramp volume, which analysts expect only in late 2027 or 2028.
- The squeeze is raising costs for device makers and consumers, prompting reported order cuts and lower shipment forecasts, while a separate probe involving Nvidia’s CEO adds a policy risk that could complicate exports though no supply disruption has been confirmed.