Global Memory: Our views on two issues affecting memory share prices Quick Note

Research evidence excerpt

Global Memory: Our views on two issues affecting memory share prices Quick Note

Global Markets Research

2 July 2026Global Memory

EQUITY: MEMORY

Our views on two issues affecting memory share prices Research Analysts

Asia Technology

CW Chung - NIHKQuick Note cwchung@nomura.com

+852 2252 6075

(1) Korean memory companies' large-scale investment plan Korea TechnologyKorea memory companies and their affiliated companies have announced large-scale,

Eon Hwang - NFIKmid- to long-term investment plans (combined amount of KRW4.8 quadrillion, which eon.hwang@nomura.com

includes KRW3.7 quadrillion investments directly related to memory) together with the +822 3783 2318

government, with no specified plans on timeline. This appears to have heightened

YJ Kim, CFA - NFIKinvestors' concerns about oversupply. Currently, the global memory industry is yj.kim1@nomura.com

experiencing a very severe shortage situation due to unprecedented strong demand from +82237832332

the AI industry, which has caused production disruptions and price increases for

smartphones, PCs, etc., leading to decreased demand for those products. Additionally,

some consumers are even filing antitrust lawsuits against the memory industry.

Alleged price collusion through supply control by global memory companies appears to be

unfounded, in our view, considering memory companies' full efforts to expand production

in recent years. Memory companies had no choice but to prioritize production of highly

profitable HBM, which slowed down commodity memory production growth. Since 2H25,

strong commodity memory demand growth has led to severe commodity supply

shortages. As a result, memory companies are expanding production very aggressively