Micron and SK Hynix join trillion-dollar club amid chip boom - Crypto Briefing

Driven by the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI), the global memory chip market is experiencing unprecedented growth. Micron Technology and SK Hynix have both crossed the trillion-dollar ... Read original →

The AI infrastructure boom has structurally reshaped the memory sector: Micron and SK Hynix’s trillion-dollar valuations reflect not cyclical recovery but oligopolistic control over HBM—a technology with extreme manufacturing barriers. Only Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron can mass-produce HBM3E/HBM4, forcing hyperscalers like Microsoft and Amazon into long-term capacity commitments that front-load capital expenditure. This tight supply chain elevates geopolitical risk: U.S. CHIPS Act funding bypasses memory, leaving reliance on South Korea and Japan, while advanced packaging capacity in Taiwan, China becomes the critical chokepoint. Samsung may vertically integrate HBM with its AI accelerators; Intel could leverage IDM 2.0 to enter HBM foundry services. Over the next 18 months, HBM yield rates and export controls—not just logic chips—will dictate global AI deployment timelines.