The semiconductor industry in 2026 is entering a phase distinctly different from any previous period.

In the past, the chip industry was universally regarded as a classic cyclical industry: rising demand drove up prices, followed by capacity expansion and price declines, in a constant cycle. But starting this year, this familiar rhythm is being broken.

One of the most visible changes is that chip prices are rising across the board, with gains far exceeding historical averages.

Take memory chips as an example. In the first quarter of 2026, server-grade DRAM prices surged 60% to 70%, marking one of the largest single-quarter increases in recent years. At the same time, market research institutions widely predict that this round of gains will not end soon—instead, it will persist throughout the year and even extend into the coming years.

If past price increases could be interpreted as a "recovery," the current trend is closer to the formation of an entirely new supply-demand structure.

The core variable driving this market cycle is artificial intelligence.

Amid the rapid expansion of large AI models, cloud computing, and data centers, global demand for high-performance memory is growing exponentially. Data shows that by 2026, AI data centers will consume over 70% of high-end DRAM production capacity. This means massive volumes of memory originally allocated to consumer electronics, PCs, and even the automotive sector are being reallocated to AI infrastructure.

More importantly, this demand is not short-term. Unlike the replacement cycles of smartphones or personal computers in the past, growth in AI computing power is sustained and rigid. A single high-end AI server requires memory equivalent to hundreds of traditional computing devices combined. In other words, every step forward in AI triggers an order-of-magnitude increase in demand for memory chips.

The explosive growth on the demand side, combined with shifts on the supply side, has created the central tension in today’s market.

On one hand, leading manufacturers including Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron are prioritizing production capacity for high-margin AI-related products such as HBM (High Bandwidth Memory). On the other, this strategy has directly reduced supply for traditional DRAM and NAND, further pushing up overall market prices.

Against this backdrop, even continuous capacity expansion by manufacturers will struggle to ease the shortage in a timely manner. Multiple companies have clearly stated that new capacity will not be fully available until 2027 or later.

Market reactions have been equally dramatic. According to industry data, memory prices rose roughly 50% in late 2025, with an additional 40% to 70% upside potential in 2026. Some corporate executives have even stated bluntly that the market is not only suffering from inventory shortages but that capital cannot keep pace with price increases.

This means the rise in chip prices has evolved from market volatility into systemic tightness.

A deeper shift is taking place in the role of the semiconductor industry.

In the past, chips were largely seen as a component within electronic products, with price fluctuations affecting corporate profits and product costs. Today, in the AI era, chips are gradually becoming a form of infrastructure. Competition in computing power is, at its core, competition for chip resources—and memory chips stand as one of the central pillars of this contest.

This explains why the current rally is so sharp and sustained: it is no longer driven solely by consumer demand, but by a paradigm shift across the entire technology landscape.

It is fair to say the semiconductor industry is transitioning from a cyclical industry to one defined by long-term structural growth—with memory chips at the heart of this transformation.

As price increases become the "new normal" and supply shortages become a long-term condition, a new question emerges: In future technological competition, will the decisive factor be product superiority, or control over chip resources?

The answer may already be taking shape.

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