Global Storage Market Continues to Heat Up, with Stock Prices and Performance of Enterprises in Multiple Regions Growing
Recently, the global storage market has witnessed multiple positive factors, with significant growth in stock prices, product prices, and corporate performance. Many institutions and industry insiders are optimistic about its long-term development prospects.
The South Korean market has delivered an outstanding performance. On the 27th, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) opened at 3,999.79 points, up 1.48% from the previous trading day, and later hit a record high of 4,018.38 points, breaking through the 4,000-point mark for the first time. This came only one trading day after it surpassed the 3,900-point level. Among them, the stock price of Samsung Electronics, the company with the largest market value, reached 109,000 won at 9:05 a.m., rising by 2.13% and breaking the 100,000 won mark for the first time. The stock price of SK Hynix also rose to 531,000 won, with an increase of 4.12%. In terms of capital flow, individual investors made a net purchase of 96.2 billion won, while foreign investors made a net sale of 71.6 billion won; this capital movement drove the rise of the KOSPI index. Institutional investors, on the other hand, made a net sale of 169.9 billion won.
At the same time, storage enterprises in other regions are also showing a positive momentum. Domestic companies such as GigaDevice Semiconductor, Demingli, and BIWIN Storage have continued their upward trend. In Taiwan, Nanya Technology, Phison Electronics, and Macronix are all in a daily limit-up state.
Three major investment banks hold a positive view on the storage market. Morgan Stanley believes that the quoted prices of DRAM and NAND Flash for storage chip manufacturers may increase by 25% in the fourth quarter, and the price of NAND Flash is expected to double to the peak level seen in the second quarter of 2022. Citigroup points out that the demand for AI inference has led to a shortage of DRAM and NAND Flash, and the market is expected to be in short supply by 2026. Goldman Sachs is optimistic about the positive impact of the AI-driven hardware investment wave on the chip industry.
Storage original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have adjusted their investment strategies, and their performance expectations are positive. The 12-month forward operating profit forecasts for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have soared by 45% and 24% respectively within one month, and the combined market value of the two companies has exceeded 100 trillion won for the first time. Samsung Electronics’ preliminary operating profit in the third quarter reached 12.1 trillion won, exceeding market expectations. UBS predicts that the operating profit of South Korea’s two major semiconductor companies will reach 17.4 trillion won next year, while Citigroup Securities forecasts it to be approximately 16.2 trillion won.
Lu Chaoqun, Chairman of Etron Technology, stated that the global semiconductor industry has entered the “trillion-yuan era”. The AI boom will drive the prosperity of the storage industry for at least half a year, and the fundamental demand may last for 1.5 years. The prospects of the storage industry in 2026 are promising. In addition, Montage Technology has completed the mass production of the DDR5 4th-generation Register Clock Driver chip (RCD04), whose maximum data transmission rate reaches 7200MT/s, an increase of more than 12.5% compared with the previous generation. This chip will help improve the memory performance of the next-generation computing platforms.