By Eduardo Baptista
Publication Date: 2025-11-19 08:42:00
BEIJING, Nov 19 (Reuters) – Nvidia’s (NVDA.O) move to use smartphone-style memory chips in its artificial intelligence servers could cause server-memory prices to double by late 2026, according to a report published on Wednesday by Counterpoint Research.
In the past two months, electronics supply chains around the world have been hit by a shortage of legacy memory chips as manufacturers turned their focus to high-end memory chips suited to semiconductors designed for AI applications.
Sign up here.
But Counterpoint, a technology-focused market research firm, said there is a new problem on the horizon. Nvidia recently decided to reduce AI server power costs by changing the kind of memory chip it uses to LPDDR, a type of low-power memory chip normally found in phones and tablets, from DDR5, which are typically used in servers.
Nvidia is scheduled to release its earnings report later on Wednesday.
Because each AI server needs more memory chips than a handset, the change is expected to create sudden demand that the industry is not equipped to handle, according to Counterpoint.
Memory suppliers like Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), SK Hynix (000660.KS) and Micron (MU.O) are already facing shortages of older dynamic random-access memory products after reducing production to focus on high-bandwidth memory, which is necessary to make the advanced accelerators that power the global AI boom.
Counterpoint said tightness at the…
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-2202155193-ae40b262860747d8b860cd4a2cc87cac.jpg?ssl=1 "Nvidia Says It Will Make AI Supercomputers in US, With 0B Commitment to AI Infrastructure")
