Recently, Team Group CEO Chen Qingwen stated that the memory chip shortage will worsen from late 2026 through late 2027, with no downward trend in prices. Some buyers may face situations where they have money but cannot secure supplies.
Chen Qingwen revealed that although Team Group has contracts, it cannot obtain sufficient quantities and must pay premium prices in the spot market to secure goods.
The price gap between spot and contract rates for memory chips has reached 30% to 50%, making short-term procurement costs significantly higher than long-term contracts. The contract price for 16GB DDR5 rose from $8.70 in October 2025 to $48 in September 2026, an increase of over 550% in 12 months, with no signs of slowing down.
Chen Qingwen expects supply and demand to balance no earlier than the second half of 2028, or even later. "With no stock available, how can prices drop?"
Currently, domestic manufacturers hold nearly 10% of the market share, but high-end DRAM and NAND flash still primarily come from Kioxia, Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix.
Moreover, domestic memory prices are closely following market trends and are not the low-price savior many had hoped for. Chen Qingwen predicts that affordable memory prices may only begin to ease in 2029, while high-end chips will remain in short supply.
However, this prediction differs from that of Acer CEO Jason Chen, who believes that mainstream memory prices will drop in the second half of 2027. After PC prices rise by 5% to 20% this year, they will stabilize in the first half of 2027 before declining.
He also bluntly stated that most major suppliers hope to prolong the narrative of shortage to maintain profit margins. It is currently impossible to determine which prediction is correct.
