Driven by overwhelming demand for AI servers, high bandwidth memory (HBM) is experiencing rapid growth. Micron and SK Hynix officially said that their HBM supply is sold out for 2024 and most of 2025. As a result, prices of HBM memory are expected to increase by 5% to 10% next year, according to analysts from TrendForce. Furthermore, prices of other types of DRAM will likely increase as well, with DDR5 predicted to increase by 15% to 20% due to memory manufacturers shifting priorities to HBM production.
HBM is much more expensive than standard DRAM types, costing about five times more than DDR5. This higher cost is justified by the substantial performance and capacity advantages that HBM has compared to commodity DRAMs. It's also considerably harder to build HBM memory devices and stacks than traditional DDR ICs and modules. Memory makers have to devote more production capacity to HBM, reducing the capacity available for other types of memory, which naturally drives DRAM prices up.
