Korean Memory Chip Leadership to Continue Until 2031

Huo Xing Finance reports that on August 5, according to Korean media, a forecast indicates that South Korea will maintain its leadership in the global memory chip market through 2031, driven by substantial investments from companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. However, demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) is expected to rapidly expand beyond NVIDIA’s graphics processing units (GPUs) to include AI accelerators developed in-house by major tech firms like Google. Josephine Lu, an industry analyst at French market research firm Yole Group, stated on the local time of the 4th at the 2026 Future Memory & Storage Conference in California that South Korea will retain its leadership in the memory industry until 2031. Lu noted that South Korea plans to double its wafer production capacity over the next five years, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix increasing their investments. Analysis indicates that South Korea’s competitive advantage will continue as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix simultaneously expand production capacity and R&D for next-generation DRAM—including HBM—and NAND. (Jin Shi)