TECH NEWS – The South Korean tech giant no longer wants to rely solely on high-bandwidth memory (HBM); instead, it is increasingly pivoting towards DDR and LPDDR modules in a bid to squeeze maximum profit out of the current memory shortage.
The memory shortage has reached unprecedented levels, with the price of some RAM modules exceeding $1,000. Signs indicate that supply will likely remain limited for several more quarters. DigiTimes reports that Samsung, one of the largest DRAM manufacturers, intends to diversify its production by shifting most of its output to DDR and LPDDR modules. Intense competition in the HBM segment has reduced the Korean company’s profitability in that area, prompting this change in strategy. Meanwhile, DDR5 spot prices are reaching new highs daily, offering an optimal opportunity for Samsung. The official price of a 64 GB RDIMM increased from approximately $265 in the third quarter of 2025 to $450 in the fourth quarter—a surge of almost 70%. DDR5 is currently more profitable for Samsung than HBM3E, and future quarterly price increases could push module prices towards $500.
Samsung is expected to shift most of its production lines to 1c DRAM technology to make room for DDR5, LPDDR5X, LPDDR6 and GDDR7 modules. More importantly, the company now sees a 75% gross margin on RDIMMs. This shift in capacity will ultimately allow the Korean giant to earn more from the general-purpose DRAM segment than from HBM. However, if you think gamers will benefit from this move, you may be mistaken. Most production is expected to concentrate on the AI segment, particularly among AI giants involved in building cloud service providers (CSPs) and data centers, which puts the consumer market in a difficult position.
This is one reason Micron decided to exit the consumer business, discontinuing the Crucial brand. Demand from AI generates higher gross margins, ensuring that DRAM suppliers can benefit as much as possible from this supercycle. It will be interesting to see how the situation develops for gamers, as the market is looking rather bleak at the moment.
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