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Taiwan chipmaker Nanya sees memory shortage through 2027
Taiwan DRAM maker Nanya Technology said at its annual meeting in Taoyuan that more customers are seeking two-year or three-year supply deals.
The memory shortage may last through the end of 2027 as AI demand rises.
It said four customers signed three-year contracts last month and joined a private placement, including Solidigm, Kioxia, Cisco Systems, and SanDisk Technologies.
Nanya raised NT$78.7 billion, or about US$2.49 billion, to fund a new plant in New Taipei City’s Taishan District.
It also plans volume production in the second half of 2027.
The company said tighter DDR4 supply after major memory makers shifted capacity to high bandwidth memory and DDR5 should lift prices this quarter, and DDR4 brings in 60% to 70% of its revenue.
🔗 Source: Taipei Times
🧠 Food for thought
Implications, context, and why it matters.
The US$2.5 billion deal secures memory supply
- Investments from Kioxia, Sandisk, Solidigm plus Cisco look like a way to lock in DRAM supply through equity stakes 2.
- For the three SSD makers that build solid-state drives, DRAM is needed alongside NAND flash storage. Short supply has been tied to delivery delays of up to a year for high-capacity enterprise SSDs 2.
- The agreement also ties investors in for the long haul. Sandisk Technologies, Inc. is a wholly owned Sandisk subsidiary. It faces a three-year statutory lock-up on Nanya shares tied to its roughly US$1 billion purchase, with only limited transfer or sale exceptions under Taiwanese law 3.
AI demand is squeezing older DRAM
- As chipmakers chase AI demand, the market has less room for older memory like DDR4, a type of DRAM still used in many mainstream systems 1.
- DRAM suppliers are directing more output to High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), which leaves less traditional DRAM for servers, networking gear, PCs plus SSDs and smartphones 4.
- Tighter supply has pushed up prices. Nanya’s average selling price rose more than 70% quarter over quarter in Q1 2026 2.
- Cisco’s participation suggests DRAM shortages are reaching networking equipment supply chains too 2.
