The storage chip industry is experiencing a "boom" in demand

Staff Reporter Li Wenshan

Intern Reporter Zhang Meina

On February 28, the Price Monitoring Center of the National Development and Reform Commission issued a statement saying that since September 2025, due to factors such as explosive demand growth and a sharp shortage of capacity, the global memory market gap has widened, and the prices of memory chips have continued to rise. Over the past month, the increase has accelerated, and it is recommended to monitor the impact of memory chip prices on downstream markets.

The explosive growth in AI computing power demand and hardware iteration at the edge have resonated, driving the memory chip industry into a high-growth phase. Recently, several listed companies in the memory chip industry disclosed their 2025 annual results, delivering impressive performance.

Industry Outlook Remains Bright

Since the second half of 2025, the memory market has continued to rise, initiating a new cycle of price increases and attracting high market attention. Data released by TrendForce Consulting (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. in February 2026 shows that the spot prices of memory chips have increased by over 300% in the past three months. It is expected that in the first quarter of 2026, DRAM (memory) prices will rise by 80% to 95%, with mainstream products like 12GB LPDDR5X memory costs increasing from 200 yuan to nearly 600 yuan. During the same period, the cost of 256GB UFS 4.0 flash memory also increased by 80% to 90%. Notably, memory price fluctuation cycles have shortened to the shortest in history, with some months seeing two price adjustments.

Regarding the causes of this price increase cycle, Jiang Bolong Electronics Co., Ltd. in Shenzhen told industry research agencies that, based on third-party data, the structural changes in AI inference—such as system architecture and resource scheduling, especially the application of key-value cache (KVCache) and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) technology—have significantly expanded storage demand. Coupled with the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure and HDD supply shortages, these factors jointly drive explosive growth in storage demand.

Looking ahead, industry insiders believe that the prosperity cycle of the memory chip industry is likely to continue.

Dongguan Securities released a research report stating that the rapid increase in demand for high-density storage in AI data centers has led to continuous price rises in memory chips, boosting profits for related companies. Semiconductor equipment and materials companies benefit from expanded advanced process production and localized supply chains. With policy support, the overall industry outlook is expected to remain positive.

Zhi Peiyuan, Vice Chairman of the Investment Professional Committee of China Investment Association’s listed company investment division, told Securities Daily that looking into 2026, memory chip prices are expected to continue their strong upward trend. The current upward cycle driven by structural AI demand may extend into 2027, as AI needs are highly rigid and persistent. Additionally, major manufacturers are expanding capacity cautiously, making the supply-demand imbalance unlikely to see fundamental improvement in the short term.

Multiple Listed Companies Report Outstanding Performance

Benefiting from the continuous rise in memory chip prices, listed companies have seen their performance results come into focus.

On February 28, Shenzhen Beiwei Storage Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Beiwei Storage”), Shenzhen Demingli Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Demingli”), and Lankes Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Lankes Technology”) all disclosed their 2025 annual performance reports, showing excellent results.

Beiwei Storage’s quick report indicated that in 2025, the company achieved a total revenue of 11.296 billion yuan, up 68.72% year-over-year; net profit attributable to the parent company was 867 million yuan, up 437.56%. The company stated that during the reporting period, it seized industry opportunities, expanded globally with top-tier clients, and achieved significant growth in market and business, with product sales increasing substantially year-over-year.

Demingli’s 2025 annual report showed that the company achieved revenue of 10.789 billion yuan, up 126.07% year-over-year, surpassing 100 billion yuan for the first time; net profit attributable to the parent after deducting non-recurring gains and losses was 688 million yuan, up 120.77%, with core business profitability continuing to strengthen. The company also plans to distribute a cash dividend of 4 yuan per 10 shares to all shareholders.

Lankes Technology’s quick report indicated that in 2025, the company achieved revenue of 5.456 billion yuan, up 49.94% year-over-year; net profit attributable to the parent was 2.236 billion yuan, an increase of 58.35%. According to the announcement, benefiting from the AI industry trend and strong industry demand, the shipment volume of interconnect chips increased significantly, driving a substantial rise in related product sales revenue compared to the previous year.

Yuan Shuai, Deputy Secretary-General of the Zhongguancun Internet of Things Industry Alliance, told Securities Daily that the overall performance of leading storage chip companies in 2025 was positive, driven by multiple factors including demand, supply, and industry cycles. On one hand, emerging AI applications have created rigid demand for high-capacity, high-performance storage chips, becoming the core engine of market growth; on the other hand, after a deep adjustment period, the supply-demand structure has improved structurally, leading to rising product prices and restored profitability for companies.