Written by David, DeepTide TechFlow

At this time last year, a 16GB DDR4 memory stick cost more than 200 yuan. Now, the same model is priced at 600 yuan, and some models have risen to nearly 700 yuan.

The direct reason for the price increase is tightened supply. The three major memory manufacturers have collectively shifted their production capacity toward the AI market. Micron is the latest one to openly announce this move.

On January 27, Micron Technology announced a $24 billion (approximately 31 billion Singapore dollars) investment in Singapore to build an advanced NAND (flash memory die) wafer fabrication plant. The investment will be made in phases over 10 years, with shipments expected to begin in the second half of 2028. Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong attended the groundbreaking ceremony.

This is Micron's second major investment in Singapore.

In January 2025, Micron began construction of a $7 billion HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) advanced packaging plant on the same campus, with plans to start production in 2027. Combined with these two projects, Micron's new investments in Singapore exceed $30 billion.

Photo source: Lianhe Zaobao, photographed by Tang Jiahong

But it's the same company that just announced two months ago the shutdown of its consumer brand Crucial, which has been in operation for 29 years—those memory sticks and SSDs you can buy on JD.com and Taobao.

While pouring money into building factories, they are also cutting their consumer business. In fact, both actions point to the same clue: the demand for memory in AI remains high.

Capacity reallocation after the Chinese market contraction

Micron's increased investment in Singapore has a clear geopolitical context.

In May 2023, China's Cyberspace Administration announced that Micron's products had failed the cybersecurity review, requiring critical information infrastructure operators in China to stop purchasing them. In 2018, the Chinese mainland market contributed 58% of Micron's revenue (approximately $17.36 billion), but by the fiscal year 2022, this had dropped to 10.8% (approximately $3.31 billion).

The production capacity needs to find new outlets.

Micron currently operates three 3D NAND manufacturing facilities and multiple packaging and testing sites in Singapore, employing approximately 9,000 people and producing 98% of Micron's flash memory chips.

Micron stated in its latest announcement that its HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) factory is expected to make a significant contribution to supply by 2027. It also mentioned that as HBM becomes part of its manufacturing operations in Singapore, the company anticipates "synergy effects" in the production of NAND and DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory, commonly used memory chips).

But the priority order for this "coordination" is clear: all HBM production capacity will be fully sold out by 2026, data center customer demand cannot be fully met, and consumer brand operations will be simultaneously suspended.

Within the same industrial park, consumer-grade production lines are making way for AI production lines.

On December 3, 2025, Micron announced through its official website that it would fully exit the consumer business of Crucial, including memory modules and SSD (solid-state drive) products sold through global retailers, e-commerce platforms, and distributors.

Shipments will continue until the end of February 2026, after which this brand, founded in 1996, will exit the retail market.

Sadrana, Micron's Executive Vice President, stated in a statement that the surge in memory and storage demands driven by AI in data centers has prompted Micron to make a "difficult decision" to exit the consumer-level Crucial business. This move will allow Micron to more effectively supply and support its large strategic customers in high-growth areas.

The data also supports this judgment.

Micron's HBM product revenue for the third quarter of fiscal year 2025 reached $1.98 billion, with annualized revenue approaching $8 billion. According to TrendForce data,The unit price of HBM memory required for AI servers is approximately 8 times that of regular servers.

Micron predicts that the HBM market size will grow from approximately $3.5 billion in 2025 to around $10 billion by 2028, surpassing the entire DRAM market size in 2024.

By comparison, consumer storage is a business characterized by thin profit margins and intense competition.

Micron's exit means that the global major consumer DRAM manufacturers have reduced from three companies—Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron—to two.

The capital market has already priced in this shift.

According to statistics from *Everyday Economic News*, for the entire year of 2025, memory chip stocks dominated the top four positions on the list of the best-performing stocks in the U.S. market:

SanDisk rose 577%, becoming the top-performing stock in the S&P 500 for the year; Western Digital increased by 281%, Micron by 236%, and Seagate by 216%.

By comparison, NVIDIA's share price increased by 39% during the same period, ranking 71st.

According to reports, tech giants such as Google and Amazon have placed "unlimited procurement demands" with Micron for October 2025. Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra revealed during an earnings call that the company's entire 2026 annual supply of HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) has already been sold out. Currently, the company can only meet between half to two-thirds of the demand from key customers.

Micron's latest financial report shows that revenue for the September-November period of 2025 reached $13.6 billion, representing a 57% year-over-year increase. Among this, DRAM revenue amounted to $10.8 billion, rising by 69% compared to the same period last year.

Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron have all previously announced that they will gradually phase out DDR4 production by the end of 2025 to early 2026. In June, Micron issued a lifecycle termination notice for DDR4 and LPDDR4.

Although Samsung and SK Hynix later extended their production plans until the end of 2026 due to the surge in DDR4 prices, the overall trend of a tightening supply has not changed.

Prices have surged sharply. According to TrendForce data, since 2025, the spot prices of DDR5 memory chips have risen by over 300%, while DDR4 prices have increased by more than 150%. In some cases, DDR4 has even experienced a "price inversion," where the prices of certain specifications have exceeded those of DDR5.

Terry Ma, chairman ofADATA, also publicly stated that the shortage and price increases in the four major storage categories—DRAM, NAND, SSD, and HDD—is the first time he has witnessed such a situation in his over 30 years in the industry.

If you want to add more memory to your old computer or build a new desktop, the cost is still high at the moment. This is because AI requires computing power, and computing power requires memory. Your old computer may still be out of the question when it comes to meeting AI requirements.

Storage stocks have risen, and memory modules have also increased in price.

One is an investment opportunity, and the other is who will pay for this opportunity.