Samsung Electronics, SK hynix poised to ride AI boom as memory chip sales seen surging 280%

Global memory chip sales are forecast to surge 280 percent this year from a year earlier, as AI data center investment drives demand beyond HBM to encompass DRAM, NAND flash and non-memory semiconductors, accelerating growth across the broader chip industry.

Global semiconductor sales will reach $1.56 trillion this year, up 92 percent from $809 billion last year, according to market research firm Gartner. The market is expected to expand further to $1.94 trillion next year.

Memory chips are the primary engine of that growth. Gartner projects memory chip sales will hit $837.3 billion this year, up roughly 280 percent from $220.1 billion last year.

Memory's share of the overall semiconductor market is also set to rise sharply. After accounting for 27 percent of total chip sales last year, memory is expected to make up 54 percent this year — meaning more than half of all semiconductor revenue will come from memory chips.

"The semiconductor industry is entering a new growth phase," said Ben Li, a director analyst at Gartner. "Sustained AI infrastructure investment, combined with memory prices rising more strongly than expected, is driving rapid industry expansion."

Both DRAM and NAND flash are forecast to post strong gains. Gartner expects DRAM sales to grow 246.6 percent year-on-year this year, while NAND flash sales are projected to rise 371.9 percent.

The trend bodes well for Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. Both companies produce HBM, commodity DRAM and NAND flash, positioning them to benefit simultaneously from rising demand for high-value AI memory and broader memory price increases.

HBM demand is growing rapidly in the AI server market, and firming prices for commodity DRAM and NAND are raising expectations for improved earnings across memory makers. Gartner said that even as additional production capacity comes online next year, memory consumption for AI infrastructure buildout will continue to grow, keeping supply tight.

"AI infrastructure has transformed the dynamics of the memory market," said Shrishti Pant, a director analyst at Gartner. "Price increases are accelerating growth this year, and beyond 2027, sustained AI infrastructure buildout, rising memory content per AI server and robust HBM demand will underpin continued memory revenue growth."

The center of gravity for semiconductor demand is also shifting quickly. Gartner forecasts the AI data center ecosystem's share of total chip sales will rise from 36.5 percent this year to more than 53 percent by 2030, meaning more than half of global semiconductor revenue could eventually be tied directly or indirectly to AI data centers.

"As AI infrastructure expands, it is reshaping not only the investment landscape across the semiconductor ecosystem but also the composition of demand within the industry," Li said. "The AI data center ecosystem's share of total semiconductor sales is projected to grow from 36.5 percent in 2026 to more than 53 percent by 2030."

The spread of AI data centers is also lifting demand beyond memory. As AI clusters grow larger and computational speed and power consumption increase, demand rises in tandem for related components including CPUs, networking chips, power management semiconductors, analog devices and optical interconnects.

Gartner projects non-memory semiconductor sales will grow 21.9 percent, from $589 billion last year to $717.9 billion this year, and expand further to $864.4 billion next year.

"AI is not just benefiting specific product categories — it is expanding semiconductor market opportunities across the entire infrastructure stack," Li said.

Industry observers say AI data center investment is acting as a structural force reshaping demand across the semiconductor industry, not merely a short-term boost to HBM. With memory prices rising and per-server memory content increasing, the key question going forward is how reliably major chipmakers can secure the production capacity and yields needed to keep pace with surging demand.