Beware the boom and bust cycle of memory stocks, investors warn amid AI boom - CNBC

The recent surge in demand for memory chips driven by artificial intelligence (AI) has fueled significant gains in U.S. and South Korean equity markets. However, market watchers warn investors not to ... Read original →

The AI-driven HBM surge appears to rewrite memory cycles, yet algorithmic advances like Google’s TurboQuant threaten to undercut demand by slashing LLM memory footprints—eroding the very foundation of current valuations. Upstream suppliers are at capacity, but Samsung and SK Hynix’s aggressive expansions, combined with rapid HBM3E entries from Taiwan, China and mainland China, risk oversupply within 18 months. Geopolitically, U.S.-ROK tech alignment boosts short-term supply security but inflates compliance costs; any U.S. export controls on advanced packaging could force global customers to diversify sourcing. Micron is leveraging its North American foothold to capture AI clients, while Samsung bundles memory with in-house AI accelerators. Over the next two years, winners won’t be those with the most fabs, but those integrating memory deeply into compute architectures with algorithm-aware design.