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The AI data-center snack aisle is empty
Counterpoint Research says global DRAM revenue surged to a record $97 billion in the first quarter of 2026, thanks to the kind of AI demand that has turned memory chips into the semiconductor version of toilet paper in a panic buy. Revenue jumped 80% from the prior quarter and 260% from a year earlier, which is… not a normal number.
The big culprit? AI infrastructure. High Bandwidth Memory, or HBM, is getting snapped up like concert tickets, while LPDDR5 content is rising inside the servers and systems powering all those expensive AI workloads. In other words, the chips that make the AI boom possible are now booming too.
Samsung, Micron, and the rest are jostling for the good seats
Samsung Electronics widened its lead in the DRAM market with a 38% share in the quarter, while Micron held onto third place. That matters because in a market this hot, scale is basically leverage: more capacity, more pricing power, more room to ride the wave.
Counterpoint also said Micron is expanding production aggressively to catch up with demand, which is investor-speak for: this company wants every possible slice of the AI memory pie before someone else eats it first. Meanwhile, China’s CXMT is growing fast too, with revenue up more than 700% year over year and a market share that more than doubled to 8%.
The price party may not be over yet
The research firm thinks DRAM prices could climb another 50% sequentially in Q2 2026, including both HBM and commodity DRAM. If that happens, suppliers could keep enjoying the rarest of corporate moods: a commodity business that suddenly looks glamorous.
Big picture: AI isn’t just reshaping software and chips with sexy logos. It’s also turning the memory market into a battleground where capacity, pricing, and execution decide who gets to cash in on the hype.