Morgan Stanley Warns AI-Driven Memory Crisis Will Continue to Worsen, Storage Prices Could Rise Over 25% in a Single Quarter

Odaily Planet Daily News Citrini analyst Jukan posted on platform X, citing Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore's view that the memory shortage in the data center sector continues to worsen, with no signs of easing pressure on market supply. The degree of memory supply tightness remains higher than expected. Currently, compared to the projected level for the second quarter of 2026, prices for memory products of the same specification have already risen by at least 25% in the third quarter, exceeding the previous forecasts of Morgan Stanley and third-party institutions.

The memory supply tightness could further intensify in 2027 and 2028. The current market-available memory resources cannot meet the rapidly growing demand of the artificial intelligence industry, and this situation is unlikely to change in the short term. AI is consuming a significant amount of DRAM capacity, reducing the memory resources available for other industries, and production of consumer electronics such as PCs and smartphones has already been affected.

AI is consuming a large amount of DRAM capacity, leading to a reduction in memory resources available for other sectors, impacting the production of consumer electronics like PCs and smartphones. The demand from AI is not only affected by the memory shortage, but memory itself is gradually becoming one of the key bottlenecks limiting AI development, on par with data center space and power supply. Additionally, some cloud computing customers are paying higher-than-expected prices to secure memory products delivered six weeks early. The market believes that as the construction of AI servers continues to expand, the pressure on the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and DRAM supply chain may further persist.