Now, 1 kilogram of South Korean-produced DRAM chips can buy 620 grams of gold. The export unit price of DRAM has risen 12.5 times from its low point 3 years and 7 months ago. Gold prices have also recently soared due to declining U.S. Treasury yields and a weakening U.S. dollar, rising 2.4 times over the same period, but still lagging behind the increase in DRAM. Currently, the export unit price of DRAM is 1.53 times the price of platinum of the same weight and 41.7 times the price of silver.
Prices have climbed to unprecedented levels, but some believe that the memory shortage next year could become even more severe. Global investment bank Goldman Sachs expects the DRAM supply gap to widen from 5.0% this year to 5.9% next year. Compared with previous forecasts, this year’s gap has been revised upward by 0.1 percentage points and 3.4 percentage points, respectively. Analysis points out that high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and high-capacity server DRAM used in artificial intelligence (AI) servers are consuming limited production capacity, causing even ordinary DRAM supplies to tighten.
According to data released on the 26th by the Korea Trade Statistics Promotion Institute (TRASS), from the 1st to the 20th of this month, the export unit price of DRAM (excluding DRAM modules) was $92,183 per kilogram (approximately 127.4 million Korean won), up 401.0% from the same period last year; export value over the same period rose 504.8% to $9.80662 billion (approximately 13.56 trillion Korean won). Analysis by investment research firm Citrini Research of South Korean DRAM export statistics shows that the current DRAM export unit price has risen about 12.5 times from approximately $7,400 per kilogram (about 10.2 million Korean won) in January 2023.
