The storage chip market is showing more signs of recovery.

According to Taiwanese media reports today, some demand areas for memory manufacturers have seen urgent orders. DRAM manufacturer South Asia Technology has stated that it expects the DRAM market to bottom out this quarter, and the company has seen urgent orders in some application areas. In addition, another storage company, Huabang, has recently seen a resurgence in customer demand for three major applications, including consumer electronics, television, and the Internet of Things. Industrial control related orders have also continued to be hot, and customers are rushing in with urgent orders, with a considerable volume.

According to Korean media Pulse According to News, several semiconductor and securities industry insiders have revealed that Samsung Electronics' DRAM chip shipments in the second quarter are expected to increase by 15% -20% compared to the previous quarter, reversing the 10% decline in the first quarter. SK Hynix's Q2 shipment volume is expected to increase by 30% -50% month on month, higher than market expectations of 20%.

Trend Force has recently adjusted its estimate for this year's storage chip oversupply rate: it has adjusted the DRAM estimate from 0.9% to -1%, and lowered the NAND Flash estimate from 3% to -0.5% - a positive value indicates oversupply, while a negative value indicates the opposite. This may also mean that DRAM and NAND Flash are expected to achieve supply-demand balance or even slight supply-demand imbalance this year.

Industry insiders believe that the market atmosphere has changed. The main reasons for this change can be attributed to two aspects. On the one hand, on the supply side, industry inventories have continued to decline since last year. The institution expects that Samsung Electronics The inventory days of SK Hynix and Micron, the three leading storage chip companies, will decrease to an average of 13 weeks in the fourth quarter, less than the average of 16 weeks in the first quarter. On the other hand, on the demand side, the number of inquiries from smartphone and server manufacturers regarding storage chip supply contracts has increased recently. At the same time, The demand for high value-added DRAMs such as HBM and DDR5 is also continuously increasing.

Hwang Min seong, an analyst at Samsung Securities in South Korea, pointed out that compared to 64GB DDR4, the price of 128GB DDR5 used for AI servers is 10 times higher, but orders are still pouring in.

It is worth mentioning that a recent report pointed out that Samsung Electronics The price of SK Hynix storage chip products will increase by 3% -5%.

Industrial Securities believes that the decline in storage chip prices is expected to converge, and the improvement of supply and demand will accelerate the arrival of a price turning point. The spot price of RAM has approached the bottom of the previous cycle, and the price is expected to stabilize and rebound in the second half of the year; NAND The price decline of Flash in the second quarter is expected to converge to 5% -10%. With multiple overseas suppliers actively reducing production, prices in the industry are expected to stabilize and rebound in the second half of the year.

Based on the current supply and demand relationship, analysts further point out that the industry's prosperity is at the bottom region, and demand is expected to hit the bottom and rebound in the second half of this year. However, TrendForce previously reported that due to DRAM and NAND Flash suppliers have reduced production at a slower pace than the weakening demand, and the average price decline of some products in the second quarter is expanding. It remains to be seen whether SK Hynix's increase in shipments and Samsung's recent reduction in production will lead to changes in industry supply and demand.