"Chip Shortage" Hard to Resolve! SK Group Chairman: Memory Chip Shortage May Persist Until 2030
On Tuesday (March 17) local time, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won stated at the Nvidia GTC conference in San Jose, California, that due to systemic bottlenecks in chip production, he expects the global memory chip shortage is very likely to persist until 2030.
Meanwhile, he anticipates that prices for various types of memory chips, including DRAM, NAND, and HBM, will continue to rise, and this upward trend may last for a considerable period.
Chip Shortage to Last for Several Years
Last month, while attending the "Trans-Pacific Dialogue" (TPD) in Washington, D.C., Chey pointed out that the current shortage rate for AI memory chips has already exceeded 30%.
While attending the Nvidia GTC conference this week, Chey again told reporters that due to the increased demand for artificial intelligence, the semiconductor chip shortage is likely to continue. He specifically noted his belief that the shortage could last until 2030, four years from now.
SK Hynix is one of the world's largest memory chip manufacturers and a key supplier of HBM chips to Nvidia. Chey stated that the massive demand for HBM within the AI industry is causing a wafer shortage, and the company needs more time—at least four to five years—to increase wafer capacity.
He also mentioned that the CEO of SK Hynix might announce measures to stabilize DRAM chip prices. Furthermore, Chey revealed that SK Hynix is considering a U.S. listing through American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) to expand its global investor base. Industry analysts believe that a U.S. listing via ADRs would help re-evaluate the company's value.
GTC Conference Boosts Korean Chip Stocks
Notably, South Korean semiconductor stocks performed strongly on Tuesday morning, bolstered by the Nvidia GTC conference.
At the conference, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang predicted that demand for Blackwell chips and Vera Rubin chips would reach $500 billion and $1 trillion, respectively, by 2026, thereby dispelling concerns about an AI demand slowdown.
Huang also unveiled the "Grok3 LPU," the first chip to feature the Grok technology acquired by Samsung last December. He announced that the chip is being produced by Samsung Electronics and is expected to begin shipping in the second half of this year.
Influenced by this news, Samsung Electronics shares surged over 4% on Tuesday morning. SK Hynix shares jumped over 2.5%, briefly reclaiming the 1 million KRW mark in early trading—the first time the stock has broken the million-won threshold in 11 trading sessions since February 27.