Market Insights and Trends

 

AI Chip Market to Hit $250B in 2025, Half of Global Sales by 2029 

Gartner data shows that AI is reshaping the chip market landscape. AI semiconductors are projected to account for over 50% of global chip sales by 2029. 

 

This trend is already evident in 2025, with AI processors, HBM memory, and AI networking chips collectively representing nearly a third of total chip sales. Estimated at 31.5%, these three categories generated approximately $250 billion in sales in 2025. AI processor sales alone exceeded $200 billion, while HBM revenue surpassed $30 billion, accounting for 23% of global DRAM sales. 

 

NVIDIA's 2025 revenue grew 63.9% to $125.7 billion, representing 15.8% of the global chip market. Even excluding NVIDIA, the market showed strong growth driven by demand for other AI chips. 

 

Global chip sales are expected to grow from 2024 levels to about $1.2 trillion by 2029, though the growth rate is projected to slow from 21% in 2025 to 8% in 2029. From 2025 to 2029, AI XPU (including GPU) sales are forecast to grow 2.3x to $465 billion, HBM sales 4.1x to $124 billion, and networking components 1.8x to $31 billion, indicating that future chip market growth will be highly concentrated in AI.

 

 

Global AI Server Shipments Forecast to Grow Over 28% in 2026 

According to a TrendForce report, driven by increased AI infrastructure investment from North American cloud service providers, global AI server shipments are projected to achieve strong growth exceeding 28% year-over-year in 2026. Concurrently, AI inference services are driving a replacement cycle for general-purpose servers, boosting overall server market demand. Total global server shipments are forecast to grow 12.8% year-over-year in 2026. 

 

 

The market momentum stems from AI applications extending from training to inference. The combined capital expenditure of the top five North American CSPs is expected to increase by about 40% in 2026, partly for replacing older general-purpose servers. Growth in AI server shipments in 2026 will be driven by North American CSPs, sovereign cloud projects, and edge AI inference solutions. In terms of AI chips, GPUs are estimated to maintain the largest share at 69.7%, while the share of in-house ASIC solutions is rising rapidly. The shipment share of ASIC-based AI servers is projected to increase to 27.8% in 2026, a new high since 2023, with their growth rate already surpassing that of GPU AI servers.

 

 

Semiconductor Foundry and Packaging Prices Set to Rise in 2026 

A TrendForce survey indicates the global semiconductor supply chain faces comprehensive price adjustment pressure. Due to production cuts by leading manufacturers, global 8-inch wafer capacity is expected to decrease about 0.3% year-over-year in 2025 and expand to a 2.4% decrease in 2026. Meanwhile, driven by AI demand, the average capacity utilization rate of global 8-inch wafer fabs is projected to rise to 85-90% in 2026, significantly higher than the 75-80% in 2025. 

 

In this context, some foundries plan to comprehensively raise 8-inch wafer prices in 2026, with increases estimated between 5% and 20%. The downstream packaging and testing segment also faces strong upward price pressure. Memory packaging and testing vendors, operating at full capacity due to influx of DDR4, DDR5, and NAND chip orders, have recently raised prices by up to 30%. Advanced packaging is also driven by AI demand; a Morgan Stanley report notes that ASE Group has passed cost increases to customers, with potential price hikes between 5% and 20%. 

 

Overall, amid shifting supply-demand dynamics and surging AI demand, the semiconductor supply chain is entering a cost-driven, broad-based price increase cycle.

 

 

Automotive Chip Market Accelerates Toward $100B by 2029 

The latest TrendForce forecast shows the global automotive semiconductor market is accelerating its expansion. Its size is projected to grow from about $67.7 billion in 2024 to nearly $96.9 billion by 2029, achieving a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.4%. This growth is jointly driven by electrification and intelligentization trends. 

 

Growth is highly concentrated, with value converging towards high-end computing cores. The CAGR for automotive logic processors from 2024 to 2029 is expected to be 8.6%, surpassing the overall market growth rate. Concurrently, global electric vehicle penetration is projected to reach 29.5% of new car sales, becoming a major market driver. 

 

In 2025, integrated cockpit and ADAS SoCs will begin commercial mass production, leading the product integration trend. In terms of competition, players like NVIDIA and Qualcomm are expanding their markets with high-performance processors, while Chinese suppliers like Horizon Robotics are rising rapidly. Traditional suppliers maintain their competitive position through reliability advantages. Moving forward, strategic integration and hardware-software synergy will be key to winning.

 

 

Chinese Chip Makers Raise Prices by Up to 80% Amid Cost Pressures 

The Chinese domestic chip market recently saw a new round of price increases. Following announcements by Goke Microelectronics and China Micro Semicon, Shenzhen Injoinic Technology also issued a price hike letter on January 28, raising prices for some of its products. In the previous adjustments, Goke Microelectronics raised prices for certain KGD products starting January 2026, with the 2Gb KGD product up by 80%, and the 1Gb and 512Mb products up by 60% and 40%, respectively. China Micro Semicon set price increases between 15% and 50% for products like MCUs and Nor flash, effective January 27.

 

 

Manufacturers generally attribute the price adjustments to upstream cost pressures. Both Goke Microelectronics and China Micro Semicon cited tight memory chip supply and rising costs for substrates, packaging, and testing as the main drivers. Injoinic also stated that its price increase is a measure taken to ensure supply chain stability amid rising costs in the upstream semiconductor industry. The successive price hikes by multiple manufacturers reflect the continuous transmission of cost pressures downstream within the semiconductor supply chain.

 

 

 

Samsung, SK Hynix Raise Server DRAM Prices by Up to 70% in Q1 

Amid surging global AI investments, Korean memory giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are significantly increasing their product prices. According to industry sources, the contract prices for their server DRAM in Q1 2026 have risen 60% to 70% compared to Q4 2025, with market research firms forecasting increases of 60% to 65%. Concurrently, market reports suggest Samsung plans to raise prices across its entire memory portfolio, with potential hikes of up to 80% for some high-end products, including high-bandwidth memory, DDR5, DDR4 general-purpose DRAM, and certain NAND products.

 

The core driver of this price surge is the explosive growth in AI computing demand and extreme structural shifts in production capacity. On one hand, the DRAM capacity required per AI server is eight times that of a standard server, with the top four North American cloud providers projected to invest over $600 billion in AI infrastructure in 2026. On the other hand, to meet massive orders for HBM3E for AI accelerators, Samsung and SK Hynix have shifted substantial advanced-node wafer capacity to HBM production, severely squeezing the supply of general-purpose server DRAM. Additionally, rising costs from advanced processes, increasing global equipment and material prices, and currency fluctuations have contributed to the cost basis for the price hikes.

 

TrendForce analysis predicts that contract prices for general-purpose DRAM will rise approximately 55% to 60% quarter-over-quarter in Q1 2026, while NAND flash prices are expected to increase 30% to 35%. Industry forecasts indicate that global DRAM bit supply will grow only 15% to 20% in 2026, while demand growth is projected at 20% to 25%. NAND flash bit supply is expected to grow 13% to 18%, with demand growth at 18% to 23%. The supply-demand imbalance is unlikely to reverse in the short term.

 

Facing tight supply, both companies have adopted a firm supply strategy, refusing to sign long-term supply agreements and instead insisting on quarterly price negotiations. Samsung's price adjustments are expected to significantly impact other major memory manufacturers like SK Hynix and Micron, potentially leading the entire industry to follow suit in revising pricing strategies. While the short-term effect may stimulate downstream stocking demand, the rapid price increases also impose significant cost pressures on end industries such as servers, PCs, and smartphones.

 

 

Severe DDR4 Price Inversion: Spot Up 172% vs Contract 

A recent Goldman Sachs survey reveals a severe price inversion in the global DRAM market. As of January 2026, spot prices for DDR4 memory were 172% higher than the December 2025 contract price, while the spot premium for DDR5 reached 76%.

 

This extreme price differential highlights a structural imbalance in market supply and demand. On the supply side, leading memory manufacturers are prioritizing advanced capacity for high-margin products like high-bandwidth memory, leading to a sharp contraction in mature-process DDR4 supply. On the demand side, the DRAM capacity required per AI server has reached 8 to 10 times that of traditional servers. The supply-demand mismatch has led downstream customers to generally accept more aggressive price increase proposals, with DRAM contract prices expected to see a strong catch-up rally in Q1 2026.

 

Price increases vary significantly across products. Data shows that as of January 2026, DDR4 spot prices have skyrocketed approximately 1845% compared to a year ago, while the annual increase for DDR5 was 465%. Institutions forecast that by the end of 2026, bulk contract prices for DDR5 will have risen about 30% to 40% compared to the end of 2025, showing a moderated pace of increase.

 

 

Chinese and International Memory Makers Expand Capacity Amid AI-Driven Shortage 

According to the latest Omdia data, the total wafer output in 2026 from the world's top three DRAM makers—Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron—is projected to reach 18 million wafers, a year-over-year increase of about 5%. Samsung plans to increase its DRAM wafer production to 7.93 million, SK Hynix expects to reach 6.48 million, and Micron is projected to maintain about 3.6 million. However, this capacity growth is far from sufficient to meet market demand. Currently, DRAM suppliers are fulfilling only about 60% of orders for general customers, and the fulfillment rate for server-specific DRAM is even lower at below 50%.

 

The supply shortage is directly causing prices to soar. TrendForce predicts that general DRAM contract prices will rise 55% to 60% quarter-over-quarter in Q1 2026, while server-specific DRAM price increases may exceed 60%. NAND Flash contract prices are also expected to increase 33% to 38%. Fundamental supply relief awaits new fab production, which is not expected to form significant capacity until after 2027.

 

In the DRAM sector, as international majors shift capacity toward high-end products, Chinese domestic maker CXMT (ChangXin Memory Technologies) plans to increase production of new-generation DDR4 products to stabilize the market, with its global market share already reaching 3.97%. Meanwhile, SK Hynix is significantly raising its 1c DRAM capacity target, planning to increase monthly capacity to 170,000 to 200,000 wafers by early 2027, more than double the original plan.

 

In NAND Flash, YMTC (Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp.) has moved up the mass production target for its Wuhan Phase 3 project to the second half of 2026. The company's global market share climbed to 13% in Q3 2025. The HBM4 capacity race is intensifying, with Micron planning to raise HBM4 capacity to 15,000 wafers per month, accounting for 30% of its estimated total HBM capacity. Samsung plans to increase its HBM monthly capacity from the current ~170,000 wafers to 250,000 by the end of 2026, a roughly 50% increase.

 

To rapidly expand capacity, Micron recently announced the acquisition of Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp.'s wafer fab facility in Taiwan, China, for $1.8 billion, aiming for production in the second half of 2027. TrendForce estimates the capacity from this facility will exceed 10% of Micron's global capacity in Q4 2026.

 

 

Top Memory Makers Tighten Orders as Inventories Plunge 

To address the ongoing supply tightness, the world's top three memory chipmakers—Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron—are simultaneously taking rare measures to strengthen scrutiny and management of customer orders. The three companies have begun requiring customers to disclose end-user information and specific order quantities to verify demand authenticity and prevent excessive hoarding from disrupting the market.

 

This move reflects the severity of the current tight supply in the memory chip market. Industry inventories have dropped to historical lows. Among them, SK Hynix's DRAM inventory fell significantly year-over-year in the last quarter, while Samsung Electronics' DRAM inventory has shrunk to about six weeks of supply, only half of the normal 10-12 week level. Against the backdrop of extreme supply tightness, the three giants are tightening order requirements in an attempt to steer demand back to its true fundamentals.

 

 

DRAM Supply Tight, Long-Term Contracts Booked to 2030 

Current DRAM market supply remains tight. Long-term supply contracts from major manufacturers have generally shifted to a "fixed quantity, variable price" model, with contract terms extended from the traditional one year to at least two years. To secure supply, some large customers have even negotiated long-term contract frameworks extending close to 2030.

 

From a supply-demand perspective, structural tightness for general-purpose DRAM is difficult to resolve in the short term as leading DRAM makers continue shifting capacity toward high-bandwidth memory and advanced processes. On the demand side, AI and servers remain the primary growth drivers, with server-related DRAM bit demand projected to account for 47% in 2026. Within that, AI server DRAM demand already makes up nearly 34% of total server DRAM demand.

 

Regarding prices, the industry expects DRAM supply tightness to continue through the end of 2026, with a projected supply-demand gap of 15% for server DRAM, which is likely to support high price levels. The GM of Nanya Technology pointed out that following an approximately 30% increase in average selling price (ASP) in Q4 last year, quotes are expected to rise slightly again in Q1 this year.

 

The impact of memory price increases varies across end products. Estimates suggest that a 10% increase in DRAM/NAND prices would affect overall system costs as follows: AI servers 0.4%, general-purpose servers 2.7%~5.5%, personal computers 2%~2.3%, and smartphones 0.7%~1.3%.

 

As high prices persist through 2026, the crowding-out effect of HBM capacity continues, and potential new supply gradually comes online in 2027, the inflection point for rebalancing DRAM supply and demand is expected to occur in 2027.

 

 

 

AI Drives Memory Market to Top $840 Billion by 2027 

Latest research from TrendForce shows that the global memory industry's output value is expected to reach $551.6 billion in 2026, and further grow to $842.7 billion in 2027, representing a year-on-year growth rate as high as 53%.

 

In terms of specific products, the DRAM sector shows particularly strong growth. The DRAM output value in 2025 was $165.7 billion, with a year-on-year increase of 73%. Driven by demand for high-end products like DDR5, DRAM prices rose by 53-58% in the fourth quarter of 2025. The increase in the first quarter of 2026 is expected to exceed 60%. Following this trend, the annual incremental output value of DRAM in 2026 is projected to reach $404.3 billion, with a growth rate of 144%.

 

The NAND Flash market also exhibits a strong upward trend. Contract prices for NAND Flash in the first quarter of 2026 are expected to see a quarterly increase of 55-60%, which will drive the annual growth rate of NAND Flash output value to 112% in 2026, pushing the output value to $147.3 billion.

 

The tight supply situation in the current memory market has not eased, and pricing power remains in the hands of suppliers. Supported by long-term demand from AI servers, the upward trend in DRAM and NAND Flash contract prices is expected to continue into 2027.

 

 

AI to Absorb 70% of Memory Output; NVIDIA to Use 10% of Global NAND 

According to the latest industry analysis and forecasts, by 2026, up to 70% of the memory produced globally is expected to flow to AI data centers to meet the high-capacity storage demands for large model training and inference. This has led to increasingly severe supply shortages for traditional application areas relying on mature processes like DDR3 and DDR4.

 

NVIDIA's upcoming next-generation 'Vera Rubin' architecture AI server system will create unprecedented massive demand for NAND flash. Taking the NVL72 specification as an example, each server is expected to require up to 1,152TB of SSD storage space. Citigroup predicts that shipments of this server will reach 30,000 units in 2026 and quickly double to 100,000 units in 2027. Based on this calculation, NVIDIA's demand for NAND in 2027 will surge to 115.2 million TB, which is estimated to account for 9.3% of the expected global total NAND demand.

 

This explosive demand stems from new technologies developed by NVIDIA to break through the AI inference "memory wall." Such massive dedicated demand is expected to exacerbate the global SSD supply shortage and may transmit price pressure to the consumer market. Meanwhile, this platform places extreme demands on high-bandwidth memory, driving intense competition among Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron in the HBM4 field, with mass production timelines expected to be concentrated from the end of the first quarter to the second half of 2026.

 

In terms of pricing, although DRAM prices overall remain on an upward trajectory, the momentum for some products may gradually slow in 2026. For example, by the end of 2026, the bulk contract price for DDR5 is expected to rise by about 30% to 40% compared to the end of 2025, showing a convergence compared to the frequent quarterly increases of over 50% in 2025. Looking ahead, the memory market will present a dual-track pattern of "high-end shortage and mid-to-low-end pressure," and traditional application fields urgently need to build more stable mature-process supply chains.

 

 

Samsung, SK Hynix Cut Output and Hike Prices, Enterprise SSD Costs May Double 

The world's two leading memory chip giants, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, are adjusting their capacity strategies and significantly increasing product prices. According to market reports, Samsung has raised the supply price of NAND flash by over 100% in the first quarter of 2026, and SK Hynix has adopted a similar strategy, far exceeding previous market expectations.

 

These substantial price increases stem from severe supply-demand imbalances driven by AI and strategic production cuts. According to an Omdia report, Samsung plans to reduce its annual NAND wafer production from 4.9 million wafers in 2025 to 4.68 million in 2026; SK Hynix expects to reduce from 1.9 million to 1.7 million wafers. The two companies together hold over 60% of the global market share. Their proactive production cuts aim to concentrate resources on higher-margin DRAM (especially HBM) product lines, further exacerbating market supply tightness.

 

On the demand side, AI infrastructure investment and the "edge AI" trend are jointly driving a surge in demand for high-capacity storage from enterprise SSDs and end devices. However, supply growth is limited. IDC expects the growth rate of NAND Flash capacity supply this year to be only about 17%. TrendForce previously predicted that NAND flash contract prices would increase by 33% to 38% quarter-on-quarter in Q1 2026, but the actual increase has far exceeded that expectation. The industry expects the price increase trend to continue into the second quarter, with Samsung already beginning to negotiate new price adjustments with customers.

 

Given the long construction cycle for semiconductor capacity, it is unrealistic to alleviate supply through expansion in the short term. The industry generally expects the tight supply situation to possibly continue until 2027.

 

 

Kioxia and Seagate Sell Out 2026 Capacity as Supply Tightness Persists to 2027 

Leading global storage manufacturers Kioxia and Seagate both confirm they are facing sold-out capacity and tight supply. Kioxia recently stated clearly that, driven by artificial intelligence infrastructure investment, its NAND flash capacity for 2026 has been fully sold out, and this situation is expected to last at least until 2027. Seagate Technology also disclosed that its nearline HDD capacity for all of 2026 is completely sold out, and customers have begun pre-negotiating capacity bookings for 2027 and even 2028 to secure supply.

 

Significant price increases have already appeared in the market. Kioxia revealed that price increases for some NAND flash products have exceeded 30%. The change in consumer SSD market prices is particularly pronounced, with the starting price for the cheapest 1TB SATA SSD now rising to about $73, representing a price increase of over 50% compared to the market low in 2023. Seagate's CEO stated that the current customer attitude is "price is not the focus, having stock is most important," and its high-capacity products have stronger pricing power.

 

Product structures are rapidly upgrading toward higher capacities. The average capacity per nearline HDD at Seagate increased by about 22% year-on-year, reaching 23TB. The company's innovative HAMR technology products have begun volume delivery; by the end of 2025, over 1.5 million units of its 3TB per disc Mozaic 3 HAMR hard drives had been shipped to its first cloud service provider customer. To meet demand, Kioxia is strengthening its manufacturing advantages, with its Yokkaichi factory using AI technology to collect about 50TB of production data daily to optimize yield.

 

In summary, against the backdrop of AI-driven high-capacity storage demand becoming the new normal, the storage market has entered a tight cycle dominated by supply, and the industry chain needs to prepare for sustained cost pressures and supply challenges.

 

 

 

Server CPU Supply Tightens; AMD and Intel to Raise Prices Up to 15% 

Driven by artificial intelligence demand, the server CPU market is experiencing a strong "upgrade cycle." According to KeyBanc estimates, AMD's and Intel's server CPU inventory for 2026 is largely sold out. To ensure stable supply and meet robust demand, both companies plan to increase CPU prices by up to 15%. The price adjustments cover AMD's latest Ryzen 9000 series and older processors, as well as Intel's server processor lines.

 

The surge in market demand primarily stems from hyperscale data center operators massively replacing older CPU architectures with new-generation products. Institutions predict that server CPU shipments could grow by up to 25% in 2026.

 

In this context, revenue prospects for both companies are widely viewed favorably. KeyBanc analysts expect AMD's server CPU revenue to grow by at least 50% in 2026. Simultaneously, its AI GPU product line's annual revenue is projected to reach $14-15 billion. On Intel's side, its 18A process yield has improved to over 60%, and it has secured a foundry order from Apple, expected to produce processors for MacBooks and iPads starting in 2027.

 

However, simultaneous price increases for CPUs and DRAM, the two highest-cost components in PC bills of materials, will place significant pressure on the downstream supply chain.

 

 

AMD Server Market Share Approaches 30% 

According to the latest data from Mercury Research, significant changes are occurring in the global CPU competitive landscape. In the server sector, as of Q3 2025, Intel's shipment share has fallen to about 72%, with its revenue share dropping further to just 61%. In contrast, AMD's market share is approaching 30%. Compared to Intel's peak dominance of about 97% of the server market in early 2019, its leading position has significantly weakened.

 

In the client market, Intel also faces pressure. Its shipment share in the overall client market has now fallen to around 60%. Within this, AMD's share in the desktop segment has exceeded 30%, while in the notebook market, AMD's share remains around 20%.

 

Market analysis indicates that AMD's rise is directly linked to its sustained product competitiveness. Whether Intel can reverse its decline with upcoming new-generation products will be key to shaping the market landscape. Intense competition in the CPU market is expected to continue.

 

 

 

NVIDIA Cuts Graphics Card Supply by 20%; High-End Model Prices Soar 

Multiple sources confirm that NVIDIA has reduced its supply of GeForce RTX GPUs to partners by 15% to 20%, primarily due to severe shortages and high prices of next-generation GDDR7 memory. This has led to significant price volatility for high-end graphics cards: over the past three months, the price of NVIDIA's flagship RTX 5090 has surged by 79%, and the RTX 5080 has risen by 35%. Some models, like the 16GB RTX 5070 Ti, have even paused production.

 

Meanwhile, AMD's RDNA 4 architecture-based RX 9700 series graphics cards have also been affected, with the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 rising about 17% and 15%, respectively. In contrast, Intel's Arc B-series graphics card prices have decreased, with the B580 and B570 down by 4% and 9%, respectively.

 

Facing supply chain pressure, AMD's Vice President publicly stated that one of the company's core tasks in early 2026 is to stabilize GPU pricing and is leveraging long-term strategic partnerships with DRAM manufacturers to ensure supply stability. Market reports suggest NVIDIA may not have plans to release new GeForce graphics cards before 2027.

 

Analysis suggests that limited GDDR7 production capacity, slow yield ramp-up, and the shift of DRAM capacity towards HBM and server markets have collectively caused a supply crisis for consumer graphics cards. Until the memory production bottleneck eases, the high-end graphics card market is expected to remain in a state of "high prices, low availability."

 

 

GPU Cost Pressures Mount; AMD and NVIDIA May Start Staggered Price Hikes in Early 2026 

Affected by sharply rising memory costs, the global GPU market is facing a new wave of comprehensive price pressure. According to supply chain sources, AMD and NVIDIA are expected to begin phased price adjustments in early 2026, with AMD potentially starting increases as early as January and NVIDIA following around February. The market widely anticipates that this round of price hikes will manifest as staggered increases throughout the year.

 

The price adjustments are broad, potentially covering not only consumer graphics cards but also data center and server GPUs. In the consumer market, for example, the flagship RTX 5090 with a launch price of $1,999 currently sells for around $3,000, and rumors suggest its price could soar to $5,000, representing a premium of up to 150% over the manufacturer's suggested retail price.

 

Overall, under the dual pressures of exploding AI computing demand and structural memory shortages, the 2026 GPU market will enter a new phase characterized by "rising costs, constrained supply, and widespread price increases."

 

 

 

Passive Component Market Enters Price Increase Cycle 

A wave of price increases has recently hit the passive component market, with industry leaders Yageo, Walsin, and other major manufacturers announcing price adjustments. Yageo announced price increases of approximately 15% to 20% for certain resistor product lines, effective February 1, 2026. Walsin also plans to adjust prices for its full range of chip resistor products starting February 1, with industry estimates suggesting overall increases could reach up to 20%.

 

These price adjustments are primarily driven by sharply rising raw material costs. Silver, tin, palladium, and platinum are key materials for semiconductor and passive component manufacturing, and their price surges have been directly passed on to production costs.

 

Prior to this, Yageo's subsidiary, Pulse (a magnetic components brand), implemented a price increase of about 10% for certain ferrite bead products on January 1. Its subsidiary Kemet had earlier raised tantalum capacitor prices for direct customers by 20% to 30% on November 1, 2025.

 

Market analysis indicates these price hikes are gradually spreading through the supply chain. Major passive component distributors in Mainland China have successively received price increase notices from Yageo's subsidiary Kamet. It is expected that, led by major manufacturers, stocking intentions among channel partners will increase. As the industry leader, Yageo's successive price adjustments may signal the formal entry of the passive component industry into a new price adjustment cycle in the new year. Supported by demand from AI servers, data centers, and product specification upgrades, the industry has gradually offset the impact of weak consumer electronics demand. Coupled with clearly rising raw material prices, these factors constitute the core drivers of this upward price trend.

 

 

High-End Demand Drives Passive Component Pricing Shift 

The global passive component industry is entering a new price hike cycle driven jointly by high-end application demand and soaring raw material costs. From Yageo and Fenghua Advanced Tech to Murata and Panasonic, the wave of price increases has comprehensively covered core categories such as MLCCs, chip resistors, and inductors.

 

However, unlike previous cycles, the solid foundation for this round of price hikes lies in the structural transformation of downstream demand. High-end applications represented by AI servers and smart electric vehicles are reshaping the industry's demand landscape. Data shows that a single high-end AI server can use 200,000 to 300,000 MLCCs, with a total capacitance value dozens of times that of a standard server. In the automotive sector, the MLCC count per pure electric vehicle can surge from about 3,000 in traditional fuel vehicles to over 18,000.

 

These high-end applications not only bring a surge in volume but also impose stringent requirements on component performance and reliability. This makes qualified high-end production capacity a scarce resource and significantly increases product value-add. Consequently, the competitive landscape is undergoing profound changes, with the winning point shifting upstream to control over core material systems. Market data shows that Mainland China's overall self-sufficiency rate for MLCCs has increased from about 12% in 2020 to over 22% in 2024.

 

The industry is transitioning from cyclical volatility to a growth attribute. According to Murata Manufacturing forecasts, by 2030, demand for MLCCs from AI servers alone will increase by about 3.3 times compared to 2025. The expansion of high-end capacity will be slow and orderly. The high-end passive component market is expected to maintain a tight balance, giving this round of price increases a stronger structural trend characteristic.

 

 

 

 

Manufacturer Updates

STM

STM to Acquire NXP MEMS Unit for $9.5B, Eyes Sensor Market Expansion

STMicroelectronics (STM) plans to acquire NXP's MEMS sensor business for up to $9.5 billion, with the transaction expected to close in the first half of 2026. Despite a 34.3% year-over-year revenue decline in its power discrete device division in Q4 due to softness in automotive and industrial markets, its embedded processing segment (including MCUs and sensors) saw growth. Key growth series include the entry-level STM32C0, high-performance STM32H5/H7, automotive-grade SPC58, and MEMS sensor LSM6D.

 

 

Renesas

Renesas Sees Steady Demand for Niche Industrial, Auto Parts

Demand for Renesas Electronics remains subdued this month, continuing to center on niche components in industrial and automotive fields, such as the RAAxx/ISLxx and R5Fxx series. Product lead times are holding steady at 20-45 weeks, and supply remains relatively stable.

 

 

TI

TI Spot Prices Surge, Over 40% of Products Up More Than 30%

Texas Instruments' (TI) market is transitioning from an all-out price war to a phase of structural price increases. This month, the spot market saw widespread and substantial price adjustments, with overall prices for over 60,000 products rising 10%-30%. More than 40% of products increased by over 30%. In significantly affected sectors like industrial control and automotive electronics, prices for digital isolators and isolated drivers rose over 25%, while automotive-grade PMIC (Power Management IC) prices increased 18%-25%.

 

 

ADI

ADI Rolls Out Tiered Price Hikes, Military Parts Up 30%

Analog Devices (ADI) officially began its first round of differentiated price adjustments across all product series on February 1, 2026. Increases are 10%-15% for commercial grade, 15% for industrial grade, and up to 30% for military grade. Unshipped orders are subject to the new prices. This has triggered a significant surge in market hoarding demand, with spot market volumes spiking since late December 2025. After the price adjustments take effect, the market is expected to gradually stabilize, with competition for commercial-grade products likely to intensify..

 

 

Broadcom

Broadcom AI Server Parts Command Premium Amid Weak Traditional Demand

Broadcom's market focus is on AI-related server components. Product lines such as the PCIe 5.0 series (e.g., SS24, SS26, SS22, SS29), high-end switch series (e.g., BCM56990, BCM78900), and expansion card series (e.g., SX06, SX07, SX08, SX09) are currently trading at a premium, with some prices having doubled. Short-term supply tightness is difficult to alleviate. In contrast, demand for its traditional products remains sluggish amid intense competition, with most standard parts still in a "price inversion" state.

 

 

Microchip

Microchip Demand Stays Low, MCU/FPGA Lead Times Extend

Demand for Microchip Technology remains low this month, with limited shortage-driven orders. Demand is primarily for price protection (PPV), while shortages are concentrated in the ATSAM series MCUs, Microsemi FPGAs, and VSC series networking components, though market acceptance is low and trading volume is limited. Regarding product lead times: general-purpose 8-bit and 16-bit MCUs are 6-12 weeks, Ethernet and USB products are 8-16 weeks, and FPGA products are 12-40 weeks. All these lead times have extended compared to the previous quarter.

 

 

onsemi

onsemi Diode, MOSFET Supply Tightens as Prices Rise

onsemi is experiencing tightening spot supply for diodes and MOSFETs, putting upward pressure on prices. The company is strategically optimizing through a $60 billion stock buyback and focusing on high-value areas like silicon carbide (SiC) and machine vision. Recently, supply chain disruptions at competitor Nexperia have led to shortages and price hikes for general-purpose power devices. This has shifted significant substitution demand to onsemi, further intensifying supply pressure and upside price risks for its related components.

 

 

Infineon

Infineon Auto, Industrial Power Parts Face 50-Week Lead Times

Supply for Infineon's automotive and industrial power devices remains tight. The most severely affected product lines include power MOSFETs (IPW/IPB/IKW series), IGBTs, and power modules, with typical lead times still exceeding 40-50 weeks. The main drivers are strong demand from electric vehicles, automotive electronics, solar power, and industrial sectors, coupled with persistent capacity shortages at mature process nodes.

 

 

NXP

NXP Supply Improves, but i.MX MCUs Remain Tight

NXP's market shows a pattern of "overall supply improvement, but structural shortages persist." With the recovery of automotive and industrial markets, its i.MX series MCUs continue to face supply constraints, with active demand in the spot market. The company plans to launch 12 new MCX microcontroller series in 2026, starting with the MCX L series for ultra-low-power applications. This is expected to double the size of its MCX portfolio within the year.

 

 

Xilinx

Xilinx XC7A, XC7Z Demand Drives Spot Price Increase

Demand for Xilinx this month is primarily focused on the XC7A and XC7Z series. Prices and inventory for its general-purpose Spartan/Artix series remain stable, while lead times for the high-end Versal series have extended to 26-28 weeks due to AI-driven demand. Affected by these extended lead times, spot prices for the XC7A and XC7Z series are trending upward.

 

 

Passive Components

Passive Makers Raise Prices as Raw Material Costs Soar

In the passive components sector, costs for key raw materials like silver, palladium, copper, and nickel have risen significantly internationally, continuously transmitting cost pressures. Multiple manufacturers have officially announced price increases. Yageo adjusted prices again on January 16th, raising prices for 0402~1206 size thick-film resistors by approximately 15~20%. Japanese manufacturers are shifting their production focus towards automotive and AI sectors, gradually phasing out large-size and medium/low capacitance value product lines. This has led to localized shortages of inductors and beads, with delivery lead times extending from 12 weeks to 18 weeks. High capacitance value products from manufacturers like Murata and Samsung are also seeing substantial price increases.

 

 

 

 

Spot Market Insights

Memory

eMMC / NAND Flash

• Spot supply remains tight across brands and capacities, with prices steadily rising as low-cost stock is quickly absorbed.
• Market sentiment is one of holding, with sellers generally reluctant to sell at low prices.
• Key brands face severe shortages: Kioxia/SanDisk stock is minimal, with prices now exceeding Samsung's. Market rumors suggest potential 50% production cuts in 2026. Winbond has raised official prices 20-30% and intermittently halted new orders. MXIC lead times have extended to 8-10 weeks, with significant price increases.
• Small-capacity Flash chips (e.g., MXIC, Micron, Winbond, Kioxia) are seeing broad price hikes, resulting in chaotic market quotes.
• NAND Flash exhibits structural tightness: the larger the capacity, the scarcer the supply.

 

 

DRAM

• DDR4: Buy-side capital continues to enter the market in waves, driving record-high prices across all capacity segments. Hoarders hold a strong bullish outlook, unwilling to sell low. 8Gb prices are up due to bulk purchasing; Nanya product is extremely scarce due to OEM shipment limits. Both 8G and 16G prices are still climbing, with 8G expected to approach half the price of 16G. 16G supply is limited; prices are relatively stable, with low-priced stock moving quickly.
• DDR3: Prices are trending higher with active trading, supported by sustained buying from large customers.
• LPDDR: A significant supply gap is anticipated for 2026. OEMs are strictly controlling shipments, making spot market stock extremely scarce. Currently, only Micron has limited supply; other brands are nearly unavailable. Automotive-grade parts have seen sharp price increases (up 200% from OEMs) and are supplied directly by OEMs on a point-to-point basis.

 

 

Server DDR4 & DDR5

• Prices are surging sharply, driven by substantial new official price increases. Market participants are largely holding stock, with some suppliers also accumulating inventory.
• OEMs have partially canceled some previously confirmed orders.
• Continued influx of buy-side capital is fueling significant price rises.
• The PC server memory market is experiencing extreme scarcity, with very few effective quotes available.

 

 

 

Storage

HDD

• Prices are up 5-8% across the board. Small-capacity drives (e.g., WD 4TB, Seagate 8TB) are occasionally available as authorized stock. 
• Higher-capacity drives (8T/16T/20T/24T) are relatively more available but prices are high and rising; suppliers are holding stock, making large-volume purchases hard to secure.

 

 

SSD

• Samsung SSD prices have risen approximately 20%, with further increases expected. Some models are becoming out-of-stock, prices are highly volatile, and obtaining quotes for large-volume orders (over 1K units) is difficult.

 

 

 

CPU

Mobile Platform

• Demand is stable, prices have risen again, and popular part numbers (N95/N97/N150, etc.) have only small spot quantities available. 

 

 

PC Platform

• Demand for loose CPUs is tepid with sluggish trading, and prices are consolidating. 12th/13th/14th Gen are mainstream, with 12th Gen notably scarce.

 

 

Server Platform

• Primarily 3rd/4th Gen, with modest price increases.

 

 

 

Network & Storage Controllers

Network Cards

• Broadcom RAID cards remain in short supply with minor price increases, although market demand is relatively weak.