Micron Technology, the world's third-largest memory chipmaker, has reportedly suspended price quotes for DRAM products and may raise prices by 20–30%, according to industry sources cited by Taiwan's Economic Daily News. The move comes amid tightening supply as demand for high-capacity DRAM surges with the expansion of AI applications from training to inference and edge devices.

Supply chain sources said Micron has informed customers—including channel partners and OEM/ODM makers—that it will halt quotes for DDR4, DDR5, LPDDR4, and LPDDR5 memory products for about a week, with prices to be adjusted upward afterward. Automotive DRAM products are expected to see even steeper hikes, potentially as high as 70%.

Micron's action follows SanDisk's 10% increase in NAND Flash contract prices last week, signaling mounting pressure across the memory sector. Executives at Micron reportedly cited customers' demand forecasts pointing to significant shortages as the reason for the suspension and pending price reset.

Industry observers noted that the rise of inference-driven AI services, coupled with cloud service providers like Google and Oracle expanding AI infrastructure, is driving structural changes in demand for large-capacity storage. With lead times for high-capacity HDDs already stretching to nearly a year, storage vendors are accelerating Nearline SSD development to narrow the cost gap with HDDs from 4–5x to around 3x.

While Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron are shifting capacity to DDR5 and HBM, demand for DDR4 remains strong in segments such as low-cost smartphones, set-top boxes, automotive electronics, and industrial applications. Taiwanese memory makers Nanya Technology and Winbond are stepping in to fill the supply gap.

Nanya, benefiting from tightening DDR4 supply, reportedly saw contract prices rise 70% in Q3 and expects another 50% increase in Q4. Winbond's Q3 contract prices rose 60%, with Q4 hikes projected at 80–90% from Q2 lows. Although spot prices have stabilized, contract pricing momentum remains strong.

Financially, Nanya reported August revenue of NT$6.76 billion, up 26% month-on-month and 141% year-on-year, marking a 43-month high. Cumulative revenue for the first eight months reached NT$29.83 billion, up nearly 20% from a year earlier. The company expects both prices and shipments to grow in Q3, with confidence in returning to positive gross margins.