TrendForce Forecasts 121% Surge in HBM Average Prices by 2027
TrendForce has updated its market outlook for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), predicting that average prices will surge by 121% year-over-year in 2027. This price spike is driven by continuous AI server expansion, severe DRAM production capacity constraints, and the growing market share of next-generation HBM4 and HBM4E memory. As AI hardware developers face escalating memory costs, server deployment expenses for advanced AI architectures will rise significantly. Attempts by chipmakers to mitigate expenses by lowering memory stack layers will be insufficient to stop the broader pricing surge caused by global supply shortages. Some AI processor manufacturers are evaluating 8Hi HBM stacks over 12Hi to balance performance, cost, and availability. However, 8Hi requires 50% more base dies than 12Hi for the same total memory capacity, raising its cost per unit capacity by 10% to 20% and neutralizing potential savings.
## BACKGROUND
High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) is a 3D-stacked DRAM architecture used in AI hardware accelerators to deliver massive data throughput. It stacks memory dies vertically on top of a logic base die, with designations like 8Hi and 12Hi referring to eight and twelve stacked DRAM layers, respectively. As the industry migrates to next-generation HBM4 and HBM4E standards, complex customized base dies are required, further straining semiconductor manufacturing capacity.