SK Hynix Sees Memory Shortage Lasting Through 2030 as AI Demand Reshapes Industry

By Yang Jie

AI-driven demand is likely to keep the memory market undersupplied through the end of the decade, SK Hynix Chief Executive Kwak Noh-jung said, arguing that the industry's next downturn is unlikely to resemble the sharp boom-and-bust cycles of the past.

At a press conference held in conjunction with SK Hynix's groundbreaking ceremony for a more than $4 billion facility in Indiana for artificial-intelligence chips, Kwak said the company sees no significant signs of a downturn, despite concerns that strong investment in memory production could eventually lead to oversupply. He said the current tight market could persist through the end of 2030.

"The next downturn is going to be different from the past downturns we experienced a couple of decades ago," he said.

Kwak attributed the shift to the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure, which is driving demand for high-performance memory used in AI servers. Unlike traditional memory products that were largely sold as commodities, AI memory is becoming increasingly customized and developed jointly with customers, making demand easier to forecast and reducing the risk of severe supply-demand mismatches, he said.

Any slowdown is likely to be more gradual than the sharp declines that have historically characterized the memory industry, according to Kwak.

The Korean memory chip maker broke ground Thursday on its first U.S. production base for high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, a key component for AI computing. The West Lafayette, Ind., facility will package and test wafers manufactured in South Korea before supplying the products to local customers. Mass production is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2029.

SK Hynix shares have rallied sharply since last year as the company became one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom. Its U.S. investment reflects confidence that AI-driven memory demand is likely to remain robust for years to come, analysts said.

Write to Yang Jie at jie.yang@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 28, 2026 01:28 ET (05:28 GMT)