Samsung Reportedly Secures 70% Memory Capacity Through 2031 Under Long-Term AI Deals

Samsung has reportedly committed around 70% of its memory production capacity to long-term supply agreements extending through 2031 for major tech clients including Nvidia, Microsoft, and Google. Under these long-term contracts, High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) prices are set as low as one-fifth of current spot market rates. These long-term commitments allow memory manufacturers to stabilize revenue and mitigate traditional semiconductor boom-and-bust cycles while securing critical hardware for AI tech giants. However, because next-generation HBM4 requires significantly more stacked DRAM wafers per module, allocating capacity to HBM is severely squeezing the global supply of standard DRAM. A 36GB HBM3E module costs between 500,000 and 700,000 KRW under long-term agreements, compared to spot market prices reaching nearly 2.87 million KRW. To expand capacity, Samsung is evaluating converting its Pyeongtaek S5 foundry line to memory production, while SK Hynix is exploring a joint-venture memory fab in Japan.