Samsung pushes 20% DRAM price hike for Q3 amid shortage

Samsung Electronics has begun negotiating with customers to raise average selling prices of conventional DRAM by up to 20% quarter-over-quarter in the third quarter of 2026, according to a report by ZDNet Korea cited by multiple industry outlets. The planned increase for LPDDR memory used in servers and mobile devices is set even higher, exceeding 20%, as supply constraints driven by AI infrastructure demand continue to tighten the market.huaweicentral+3

A Year of Relentless Price Increases

The Q3 push follows a year of extraordinary price escalation. In Q1 2026, Samsung and rival SK Hynix implemented increases of 60% to 100% across various DRAM segments, with Samsung's overall memory ASP surging approximately 146% compared to the full-year 2025 average, according to TrendForce. For Q2 2026, Samsung finalized contracts with roughly 30% increases over Q1 levels, while TrendForce projected conventional DRAM contract prices rose 58–63% quarter-over-quarter in that period.buysellram+2

The sustained pricing power reflects a structural supply-demand imbalance. Both Samsung and SK Hynix have reallocated substantial production capacity toward high-bandwidth memory for AI data centers, squeezing supply of conventional DRAM used in PCs, smartphones, and standard servers.networkworld

Market Outlook Remains Tight

TrendForce has indicated that the overall DRAM market will remain "severely supply-constrained" through Q3 2026, though it expects the rate of price increases to moderate somewhat due to demand revisions for consumer applications and high base effects, projecting contract prices to rise 13–18% quarter-over-quarter for the broader market. Jefferies has forecast memory prices rising 40–50% in Q3 when factoring in all segments.moomoo+1

Shares of both Samsung and SK Hynix rose sharply on the news, with Samsung gaining over 8% and SK Hynix surging more than 12%, according to the report.moomoo

Samsung president Wonjin Lee warned earlier this year that memory chip shortages would affect pricing industry-wide in 2026. "There's going to be issues around semiconductor supplies, and it's going to affect everyone, not just Samsung," Lee told Bloomberg in January. Gartner had forecast DRAM prices to increase 47% for the full year due to undersupply in both traditional and legacy DRAM markets.networkworld