Special report by research firm Maritz Security: server DRAM prices surge, but the market may only react later
The research firm reports an interesting development in the memory market, which, according to them, has not yet been fully reflected in stock prices.
According to the data, spot market prices for 64GB server DRAM modules have seen a sharp surge since mid-July.
The main reason for the increase is a combination of strong demand from government AI projects, including projects in Saudi Arabia, along with expanded testing and establishment of new data centers.
Demand has become so high that, according to the report, there is already a shortage even of sample units.
As a result, the spot market price for a 64GB server DRAM module rose to over $3,100, compared to the contract price of $1,380 at the end of June – a massive jump!
This represents a gap of about 146%, indicating significant pressure on the supply side.
And here's the interesting part:
Maritz notes that the situation is very reminiscent of what happened at the beginning of the year.
In January, too, there was a sharp jump in spot market prices due to a wave of orders for AI servers, but memory manufacturers' stocks barely reacted,
because investors waited to see the impact of the increase on contract prices and financial reports.
Only starting from February, when contract prices began to update upwards,
memory company stocks began to rise significantly.
Maritz's assessment is that the market may be reacting with a delay.
If the rise in spot market prices translates into contract prices after the release of major tech companies' earnings reports, it could support further improvement in memory manufacturers' profitability and industry price levels.
The report joins a series of recently published assessments stating that demand for AI server memory continues to rise rapidly, while supply is still struggling to keep pace.