According to Kuai Technology, even ancient DDR2 memory is experiencing soaring prices in the DDR5 era.

As is well known, the strong demand for AI has drawn the attention and capacity of DRAM memory manufacturers towards HBM high-bandwidth memory. Traditional consumer-grade DDR memory has been severely squeezed, DDR5 prices continue to remain high, and both manufacturers and consumers have shifted back to the previous generation DDR4. In order to minimize costs, some brands and ODM manufacturers have already started further lowering memory specifications, replacing DDR4 with DDR3 and DDR3 with DDR2, hoping to secure sufficient DDR memory shipment quotas. However, this has also caused shortages and price increase pressures to cascade downward.Currently, large original manufacturers have long since stopped producing DDR3 and DDR2 memory. Presently, the main suppliers are Taiwanese manufacturers, for example, DDR2 is highly dependent on Winbond and ESMT. Even Winbond is gradually withdrawing from DDR2 production, shifting its capacity to the more profitable DDR3, DDR4, and LPDDR4, which will undoubtedly further intensify the shortage of DDR2.ESMT mainly relies on PSMC for foundry production and plans to focus its existing capacity on DDR2 production to fill the supply gap left by Winbond's exit, thereby maximizing profits. As a result, the contract price of DDR2 memory chips is expected to surge by 55-60% in the second quarter of this year, with a further potential increase of 35-40% in the third quarter.