April 7 — According to United Daily News, TrendForce Technology indicates that as major manufacturers exit mature DDR4 and below product manufacturing, the supply structure is converging, with Q2 consumer DRAM contract prices estimated to increase 45-50% quarter-over-quarter.
Price momentum in March concentrated on 4Gb and below capacities, with DDR4 4Gb average prices rising over 20% month-over-month. Taiwanese manufacturers are shifting production focus to DDR4 to capture overflow orders, but DDR3 and DDR2 are also seeing transferred order demand. With insufficient capacity, the March average prices increased 20-40%. Taiwanese manufacturers raised quotes in March, with Q2 transaction price gaps expected to converge; Korean manufacturers already have high average prices, with moderate short-term adjustment ranges.
April 10 —The analog chip industry is hitting a recovery inflection point in 2025. WSTS forecasts full-year growth of 3.3%, expanding to 5.1% in 2026.
Automotive electronics has become the largest incremental market, with domestic CAGR reaching 18% from 2025-2029. Electrification and intelligentization are driving per-vehicle value from RMB 2,200 to 4,000, creating massive domestic substitution opportunities.
Overseas leaders are shifting strategies: TI is moving from “price wars” to “profit recovery” with consecutive price increases; ADI’s Q1 FY2026 revenue grew 30% year-over-year, hitting a two-year high.
April 8 — According to semiconductor industry media, Samsung Electronics completed negotiations with major clients by late March, with Q2 DRAM prices rising approximately 30% across all product lines.
The new prices follow significant Q1 increases, when DRAM average prices roughly doubled. After two rounds of hikes, current prices have risen approximately 2.6x from early 2025 levels. This increase covers the full product portfolio, including AI server HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) and standard DRAM for PCs and smartphones.
Samsung has signed supply agreements with global key clients, confirming the new prices are already in effect. Market observers note that AI-related memory demand remains robust, particularly for HBM, while standard DRAM demand is also recovering. Meanwhile, supply growth remains constrained, supporting overall price trends.
April 8 — According to SemiMedia, Nexperia’s China operations are fully transitioning to domestic wafer procurement, reshaping its semiconductor supply chain with a target of achieving full localization for China products by H2 2026.
The company notified distributors in October last year, following European wafer supply restrictions, that wafers produced in the Netherlands would no longer be used for China production. Instead, domestic suppliers are being adopted to complete full localization of the chip manufacturing process. Currently, the Dongguan packaging facility is operating at approximately 60-70% capacity utilization, supported by inventory, customer-supplied wafers, and domestic alternatives. Key product output is expected to recover to approximately 90% in Q2.
April 8 — According to United Daily News, as “raising AI lobsters” (AI agents) applications grow rapidly, they will drive increased demand for AI SSD storage.
Market-wise, PCIe SSD controller chip total shipments grew 25% annually, with NAND bit shipments up 18% monthly, indicating continued warming market demand for high-performance, high-capacity storage. As AI deployment and inference applications accelerate, data generation is showing structural, nearly unlimited growth trends, driving strong NAND storage demand.
On the supply side, NAND manufacturers maintain cautious, conservative attitudes toward capacity expansion. Overall supply remains tight with prices maintaining upward trends, with no signs of relief in the short term. While retail markets are showing some price softening noise, high-end customized markets including CSPs, servers, AI applications, and industrial controls continue to show strong, long-term stable demand.
April 9 — According to Economic Daily News, South Korean media BusinessKorea reports that Qualcomm is reassessing next-generation AP production strategy, with focus potentially shifting from Samsung back to TSMC.
Samsung’s 2nm process yield was only slightly above 20% in H2 2024, and recent reports suggest it remains below 60%; TSMC’s 2nm yield ranges between 60-70%, approaching Qualcomm’s 70% mass production benchmark with verified stability. From a risk management perspective, Qualcomm is prioritizing TSMC. Some observers believe TSMC may capture all orders, though if Samsung’s yields continue improving, a diversified outsourcing strategy may still be adopted.
