DRAM Ready to Skyrocket! Samsung Strike Vote Ends, Is Buying Memory Better Than Buying Gold Now?

Samsung Union Announces Strike Vote Results: 66,019 Employees Vote 93% in Favor, Planning an 18-Day Nationwide Strike from May 21 to June 7 if Negotiations Fail.
Samsung controls 36.6% of the global DRAM market and 100% of Korea’s DRAM production lines. This event has directly sparked concerns over memory shortages worldwide.
(Background: TSMC teams up with Marvell on the “2nm + Silicon Photonics” project to dominate ASIC chip market share)
(Additional context: Huawei reportedly mass-producing AI chips Ascend 910C to fill the gap left by Nvidia H20 imports into China)

Table of Contents

Toggle

• Samsung = One-third of the world’s DRAM
• Pressure from AI
• Has the short-term gold rally already peaked?

Samsung union votes: 66,019 votes, 93% in favor of strike.

This strike vote by Samsung employees sends a message to the global tech supply chain. The union represents about 89,000 workers, over 60% of the company’s total staff. The main demand is reform of the performance bonus system. If negotiations break down, Korea’s largest memory factory could go on an 18-day strike starting as early as May 21.

The impact of an 18-day strike could be significant.

Samsung = One-third of the global DRAM

The memory industry has a unique geographic structure, with nearly all capacity concentrated in three companies, all with core production lines in Korea. Samsung alone accounts for 36.6% of the global DRAM market. Including SK Hynix, Korea’s share of global DRAM supply exceeds 70%.

Servers, smartphones, laptops, AI training machines—without DRAM, nothing moves. Even before the strike began, DRAM prices had already been rising.

Pressure from AI

Gartner forecasted earlier this year that by 2026, DRAM prices will increase by 47%, with server-grade DRAM potentially rising 60-70%. This isn’t just because of Samsung’s strike, but primarily due to AI demand.

Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Amazon are unprecedentedly ramping up purchases of HBM (High Bandwidth Memory), forcing Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron to shift cleanroom capacity and capital expenditure toward high-margin AI applications.

At last year’s earnings call, SK Hynix explicitly stated that capacity for HBM, DRAM, and NAND is nearly sold out through the end of 2026.

The retail price of 32GB DDR5 modules has risen from $149 in September last year to $239, a 60% increase. Contract prices for DDR5 jumped from $7 per unit to $19.50, a 178% increase.

At this moment, Samsung workers cast their 93% approval vote.

Has the short-term gold rally already peaked?

Gold performed remarkably over the past 24 months. Aside from inflation hedging, its rise was driven by dollar instability and geopolitical tensions.

In the short term, gold has pulled back, with funds shifting into oil. Moving forward, the focus may shift again to memory shortages driven by Samsung’s strike.

DRAM shortages are structural. After the three manufacturers lock significant capacity into HBM, the remaining supply for the general market is limited. This gap is now further amplified by the strike vote results.

Of course, the strike may ultimately be resolved, with contracts delayed, and the impact could be smaller than expected. But the trend is clear: the ceiling for memory prices is being supported by AI demand floors.

This is not investment advice.