Samsung Has Already Sold 80% of Its 2027 Data Center Memory, and That's Bad News for Your Next PC Upgrade
A Korean investment firm says long-term contracts have locked up next year's chip supply, pointing to steeper RAM prices and a windfall for Samsung's bottom line.
If you were holding out hope that memory prices might cool off next year, Samsung just gave you a reason to think otherwise. According to Korean investment firm KB Securities, 80% of the company's 2027 data center memory output has already been claimed through long-term supply agreements, Yonhap News reports. The hyperscalers building out AI data centers are now competing for whatever's left.
That's just the headline number. Samsung's broader commodity memory business, the DRAM and NAND that underpin everything from laptops to smartphones, is already 70% committed under five-year contracts, per KB Securities. And High Bandwidth Memory, the specialized chips that power the GPUs and accelerators running AI workloads, is fully booked: 100% of that output is locked into yearly agreements.
The scarcity is already showing up in price projections. KB Securities expects HBM's average selling price to jump 100 to 150% year-over-year. That kind of increase doesn't stay contained to data center hardware. The firm's analysis points to a knock-on effect for consumer products too, with a double-digit quarter-over-quarter price bump expected once the new year turns over.
Why memory got this tight
The short version: AI demand ate the supply chain. Data center operators need enormous quantities of memory to feed the chips training and running AI models, and that demand has been strong enough to pull manufacturers' output years into the future through long-term agreements. Some tech executives have suggested the shortage won't persist all the way to 2030, but even if that's true, there's a lot of runway between now and then where supply stays squeezed.
Good news for Samsung, less so for buyers
While tighter supply is a headache for anyone shopping for RAM or a new PC, it's effectively a guarantee of profit for Samsung. KB Securities projects the company's operating profit will grow 57% year-over-year in 2027, hitting 555 trillion Korean won, a figure the firm converts to a little over $4 billion.
That forecast comes despite a rough stretch for Samsung's stock. KB Securities notes the company's share price fell 19% during last week's broader AI and semiconductor sell-off. But the firm doesn't see that decline as a sign of trouble underneath. In KB Securities' own words:
"We believe the sell-off is attributable to weaker sentiment [regarding AI investments more broadly] and valuation adjustments amid macro uncertainties, rather than any deterioration in the company's earnings fundamentals. Macro variables may boost near-term volatility, but are unlikely to affect the direction of earnings growth, given the output reserved by LTAs and rising prices. In short, we believe earnings growth in 2027 is virtually assured."
In other words, the contracts are already signed and the prices are already rising. Whatever happens to AI stock sentiment week to week, Samsung's memory business looks locked in.
What this means if you're just trying to buy a PC
For everyday buyers, the practical takeaway is simple and a little grim: memory prices look set to keep climbing into next year, not level off. That doesn't mean rushing out to stockpile RAM today is the right move, but it does suggest that waiting for a price drop isn't a great bet either. If a hardware upgrade is on your radar, the near-term trend is pointing in one direction.
