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The Hot Take: Is this why they left the consumer market? Going to a different market other than Ai to make more money with?
Micron has outlined a significant increase in memory requirements for future autonomous vehicles, with the company stating that Level 4 (L4) self-driving systems could demand more than 300GB of RAM per vehicle.
Read the full articleThe Hot Take: Only going to shoot costs up on Ai accelerators and RAM or Samsung Chips.
Samsung Electronics' labor union has voted overwhelmingly to initiate dispute proceedings following a breakdown in wage negotiations, raising concerns over potential disruptions to the supply of HBM4 memory for Nvidia's next-generation AI accelerators.
Read the full articleThe Hot Take: So we can lock in that price gouging?
Samsung is reportedly pushing memory customers into surprise three- to five-year supply contracts. It thinks it can spot price swings “early on” and adjust investment before it gets caught with too much new capacity and nowhere to ship it. Samsung chief executive Jun Young-hyun said, “We are now working with our major customers to shift this transaction environment toward fixed-term supply contracts, three- to five-year contracts. We expect to be able to identify fluctuations [in the market] early on and, because we are aware of them in advance, we will be able to flexibly adjust our investment scale accordingly.” That is a sharp turn from a few months ago, when Samsung was reportedly so slammed it barely had room for quarterly contracts, never mind multi-year ones. Under the cunning plan, Samsung gets a longer view of demand for planning and expansions, while customers get a “slight discount” off today’s prices in exchange for less uncertainty. The arrangement would help Samsung keep DRAM pricing steadier by “locking in” peak shortage levels, even if demand cools and the cycle normally rolls downhill. For consumers, it risks prolonging the pain, since earlier estimates of the DRAM cycle easing in 2027-2028 seem optimistic if supply is already tied up. Suppliers have been muttering that the boom might not last ‘Too Long’, and multi-year deals look like another way to avoid over-investment while keeping everyone else boxed out.
Read the full article