Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are running dangerously low on memory stockpiles. A report from South Korean brokerage KB Securities indicates that both suppliers currently hold under 10 days of available inventory. That leaves virtually zero margin to cushion unexpected spikes in global hardware demand.
The crunch stems from massive capital expenditures by hyperscale data center operators. Global investments in AI infrastructure are projected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2027, marking a 60% jump year on year. Memory chips will take a dramatically larger portion of that budget, rising from 14% in 2025 to 57% by 2027. That represents a fourfold expansion in just 2 years.
Next generation HBM4 production is tightening factory lines even further. Fabricating HBM4 consumes far more silicon wafer volume than standard DRAM or older HBM3E modules. As manufacturers shift production capacity to fulfill high bandwidth memory orders, overall bit output across the wider market will suffer. KB Securities estimates the supply gap for both DRAM and NAND will climb past 10% by 2027, locking the hardware sector into an extended shortage.
