[Core Information] Samsung is rumored to have canceled the discontinuation of DDR4 and will continue to supply it until December 2026 (2025-08-08)

1. Storage market: DDR4 bucks the trend to continue its life, HBM competition intensifies

1. Samsung emergency adjustment: DDR4 production postponed to December 2026

• original plan: Gradually discontinue the production of DDR4 before the end of 2025, and shift all efforts to HBM and DDR5.
• new decision: Cancel production suspension plan,1z process DDR4 continues production until December 2026, and will notify customers.
• core reasons：
  • HBM lags behind: Samsung HBM3E has not been certified by NVIDIA, and its market share is only 17%, which is far lower than SK Hynix’s 62%, and its profit contribution is limited.
  • DDR4 surges: At the end of July, the price of 8Gb DDR4 reached$3.9, up 50% from June; in late JuneDDR4 spot price doubles that of DDR5, the gap between supply and demand is 50%-60%.
  • cost advantage: 1z The process production line has been depreciated, the marginal cost is extremely low, and the profit is huge at high prices.
• Industry chain: SK Hynix followed suit and postponed DDR4 production to 2026; Micron temporarily maintained its original plan.

2. New trends in storage landscape

• DDR4 terminal feast: Estimated contract price of consumer-grade DDR4 Q3Quarterly growth of 85%-90%, rigid support for industrial control, network communication, and automotive needs.
• HBM competition intensifies: SK Hynix took the lead in taking the lead in storage with HBM3E; Samsung reduced the production volume of HBM3E from 70,000-80,000 pieces/month to 30,000-40,000 pieces/month.
• New storage：SanDisk and SK Hynix DefinitionHBF High Bandwidth Flash, positioning AI reasoning, the capacity is 8-16 times that of HBM, and is planned to be sampled in the second half of 2026.

2. Wafer foundry: local production expansion is accelerated, and overseas localization is accelerated

1. SMIC: Q2 revenue increased by 16.2%, capacity utilization rate was 92.5%

• 2025Q2 Results: Revenue$2.209 billion(YoY + 16.2%, MoM - 1.7%); Operating profit$150 million(YoY + 72.9%); Capacity utilization rate92.5%(YoY +7.3pct).
• first half: Revenue$4.46 billion(YoY + 22.0%); gross profit margin21.4%(YoY +7.6pct).
• Q3 Guidance: Revenue + 5%~7% month-on-month; gross profit margin18%~20%。
• strategy: Focus on mature processes of 28nm and above to serve new energy vehicles and industrial control; steadily promote the ramp-up of 14nm/12nm FinFET production capacity.

2. Hua Hong Semiconductor: Q2 capacity utilization reached a new high in recent years

• 2025Q2 Results: Revenue$566 million(YoY + 18.3%, MoM + 4.6%); gross profit margin10.9%(Better than guidance); Capacity utilization108.3%, hitting a new high in recent years.
• Capacity structure: 12-inch revenue share59%, growing for six consecutive quarters; Wuxi’s new 12-inch production line has steadily climbed.
• strategy: Using unique technologies (high voltage, embedded storage, radio frequency, BCD) as barriers to expand the automotive, industrial, and communications markets.

3. GlobalFoundries: Q2 growth, promoting localization in China

• 2025Q2 Results: Revenue$1.688 billion(YoY + 3%, MoM + 6%); Operating profit$196 million(+26% YoY); 12-inch wafer deliveries581,000 pieces(+12% YoY).
• growth drivers: Automotive, communication infrastructure, and data center businesses saw double-digit growth year-on-year.
• localization: Reached an agreement with local foundries in China, FocusAutomotive grade CMOS, ensuring stable supply to mainland customers.

3. Domestic chips and technological breakthroughs

1. Montage Technology: Clock buffer and spread spectrum oscillator are available for sample delivery

• Product progress: The clock generator has been put into mass production; ** Clock buffers (20 models) and spread spectrum oscillators (4 models) ** have entered the customer sample delivery stage.
• Core advantages: High performance, low power consumption, low jitter (RMS jitter<100 fs); spread spectrum technology effectively suppresses EMI and is suitable for AI, communications, and industrial control.
• Application scenarios: AI servers, data centers, high-speed communications, industrial control, automotive electronics.

2. SanDisk + SK Hynix: jointly define HBF high-bandwidth flash memory

• Technical positioning: A new storage layer between HBM and SSD, designed forAI reasoningThe design is based on HBM 3D stacking, and the medium is changed to NAND.
• performance goals: The cost is close to HBM, and the capacity is8-16 times(Single stack starts at 2TB), with bandwidth comparable to HBM.
• time planning: HBF samples will be released in the second half of 2026; AI inference equipment will be released in early 2027.

4. Summary of core trends in the industry

1. storage structural inversion: DDR4 has changed from being withdrawn from the market to continuing its life, and the price has skyrocketed; HBM has become the core of storage competition, and Samsung is obviously lagging behind.
2. OEM production capacity differentiation: The demand for mature processes (28nm+) is strong, and SMIC and Huahong have high capacity utilization rates; advanced processes focus on AI, and TSMC continues to expand production by 12 inches.
3. Accelerate localization: GlobalFoundries, NXP, and Infineon are investing heavily in the Chinese market; SMIC and Huahong are growing rapidly relying on local demand.
4. Domestic substitution deepens: Montage clock chips break through the international monopoly; new storage devices such as HBF provide a new track for domestic production.