Odaily Planet Daily reports that Citrini analyst Jukan stated on X that the market may have to adopt a "short memory, long optical" trading strategy in the short term; some hedge funds have already begun positioning in this direction, primarily based on three reasons:
First, after the South Korean leveraged ETF market essentially ceased to function, related investors are facing redemption pressures, which could lead to additional selling pressure; adjustments in leveraged product funding may still exert pressure on South Korean storage stocks.
Second, NVIDIA is adjusting the architecture of its next-generation AI systems, potentially reducing the HBM configuration per rack for Rubin Ultra and connecting multiple racks via optical interconnect technology to maintain leading cluster-level performance. Even if the HBM reduction stems from supply constraints rather than decreased demand, optical communication may still emerge as a key beneficiary in AI infrastructure.
Third, the market is forming a consensus that storage prices may peak within the next two quarters.
However, the long-term outlook for the storage industry remains positive, though the short-term view is more cautious. Investment in AI infrastructure is gradually shifting from a sole focus on HBM storage capacity toward overall data center architecture efficiency, including high-speed optical interconnects, which may redirect capital from memory chips to the optical communications sector in the short term.