#memory-chips

#memory-chips

The stock market valuations of chipmakers SK Hynix and Micron have risen above the $1tn (740bn) mark, driven by a boom in artificial intelligence (AI) data centres. Shares in South Korea's SK Hynix, a key supplier to AI chip giant Nvidia, jumped by 10% on Wednesday, continuing a rally that has seen its share price more than triple since the start of this year. On Tuesday, US memory chipmaker Micron's shares rose by almost 20% after investment bank UBS tripled its stock price target for the company.

DRAM holds nine positions, with 73% of assets in just three names: Samsung Electronics at 25%, SK hynix at 24%, and Micron Technology at 24%. The remaining sleeve covers Kioxia, Sandisk, Western Digital, Seagate, Nanya, and Winbond. South Korea accounts for 49% of geographic exposure, the U.S. for 38%, Taiwan for 6%, and Japan for 5%.

"We're making this change because the cost of building high-performance VR hardware has risen significantly. The global surge in the price of critical components - specifically memory chips - is impacting almost every category of consumer electronics, including VR."

SK Hynix's order for nearly $8 billion in EUV machines from ASML is the largest publicly announced single order in the company's history, aimed at enhancing advanced memory chip production.

Affordability is the primary driver in the secondhand segment, the analyst says, with around 40 percent of sales driven by budget-conscious users shopping in the €200 to €300 price band for laptops. The €300 to €400 tier is also expanding - representing 23 percent of the refurbished market, up from 15 percent a year earlier - indicating some buyers are prepared to spend a bit more for improved specifications.

The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max will cost exactly the same as their predecessors, according to a new research note from GF Securities analyst Jeff Pu, a constant purveyor of Apple-related supply chain information. That is obviously very good news, if it pans out, since the pricing stability of smartphones is anything but guaranteed this year given how memory production seems to mostly be going to AI data centers.