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Korean storage substrate manufacturer TLB has started the development of the AI server low-power memory module specification SOCAMM3 substrate with two large domestic and foreign storage manufacturers. According to industry news on the 22nd, TLB recently began negotiating design directions and manufacturing processes with two existing storage customers, with specifications yet to be determined. The storage manufacturers plan to complete the design with the substrate manufacturers before finalizing the specifications, with actual substrate mass production expected in 2028.SOCAMM will make the low-power DRAM for mobile devices into a detachable AI server module, which will be first used by NVIDIA in its own AI servers. SOCAMM2 has developed into a JEDEC standard. Currently, each NVIDIA Vera CPU is equipped with 8 SOCAMM2 based on LPDDR5X, with a maximum capacity of 1.5TB per CPU and a bandwidth of 1.2TB per second. The SOCAMM2 substrate requires five layers, and the number of layers for SOCAMM3 will increase, raising the difficulty of processes such as micro-hole processing. The applicable systems have not been disclosed, and the mass production timeline in 2028 coincides with NVIDIA's roadmap. NVIDIA announced in March this year at GTC that it will launch the Feynman GPU and the new CPU Rosa in 2028.TLB's SOCAMM2 substrate has already entered mass production earlier this year, with production volume and sales in the second quarter increasing more than three times compared to the previous quarter. The production time and unit price are both about twice that of existing module substrates. The industry expects TLB's SOCAMM substrate sales to be around 70 billion Korean won this year, and about 140 billion Korean won next year. Brokers estimate the company's overall revenue this year to be about 350 billion to 370 billion Korean won, a year-on-year increase of about 40%, and around 450 billion Korean won next year. The company will begin construction of its second factory next month in the An Phu Industrial Park in Bac Ninh Province, Vietnam, aiming for production in the fourth quarter of next year, but SOCAMM substrates will still only be produced at the headquarters in Ansan in the short term.

According to Gate market data, U.S. stocks opened with the Dow Jones up 0.3%, the S&P 500 index up 0.3%, and the Nasdaq up 0.7%. SK Hynix and SanDisk rose by 4%, Micron Technology rose by 3%, SpaceX rose by 8%, and NVIDIA rose by 2%.

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According to Gate market data, the storage sector in the U.S. stock market saw a general rise before the market opened, with Micron Technology up 2.4%, SanDisk up 3.64%, SK Hynix up 3.6%, and Western Digital and Seagate Technology both up over 2%.

Market research firms Counterpoint Research and TrendForce stated on the 18th that China's DRAM manufacturer Changxin Storage's monthly wafer production capacity is expected to expand from the current approximately 320,000 wafers to 420,000 wafers by 2027, adding about 100,000 wafers in just over a year, an increase of 31.3%.The industry expects that Changxin Storage's monthly DRAM wafer production capacity will reach 500,000 to 600,000 wafers by the end of 2028. If calculated at the upper limit of 600,000 wafers, this would be an increase of 280,000 wafers compared to the current level, an increase of approximately 87.5%.

The white-haired stock god Serenity stated that the storage chip industry is experiencing unprecedented long-term demand visibility, with large cloud service providers like Google even seeking to sign long-term supply agreements extending to 2035. However, the market is still affected by concerns over the sustainability of AI infrastructure investments and financing risks.Serenity also cited the views of Dell CEO Michael Dell, who indicated that the shortage of storage chip supply may last for about 4 years, as the construction cycle for new fabs is relatively long, and the related capacity is expected to be released by 2029 to 2030. Dell anticipates that the imbalance between supply and demand for storage chips may further worsen by 2027.

Analyst Jukan published a discussion on the storage industry's cycle, believing that computing power and storage will tighten or loosen in sync, and that there will not be a situation where computing power is continuously in short supply while storage alone turns to surplus. He also stated that the logic of shorting storage while going long on hard drives does not hold, as hard drives are tied to the storage cycle; if this cycle declines, hard drives will struggle to remain secure on their own.Jukan noted that the market lacks a clear judgment on trends after 2027. Historically, prices often peak one to two quarters before supply increases, followed by an expansion in shipments and a contraction in profit pools. He believes that this cycle is different from those of personal computers, smartphones, and general-purpose servers, as the products used are not standardized, and the triggering factors are also different. Some investors who still view storage through the lens of past experiences of profits during upswings and losses during downswings dominate pricing, leading to a low valuation of storage. He stated that a sharp collapse similar to previous ones is unlikely to reoccur, but a gradual decline is possible; even if Samsung and SK Hynix's profit margins are halved from current levels, the price-to-earnings ratio may still be in the teens, about half of the valuation of hard drive companies.He also believes that when storage prices decline, other demands will absorb supply at various price levels, with local AI-driven personal AI demand expected to emerge. If the storage prices pushed up by hyperscale cloud providers cannot be controlled, local AI will struggle to spread. Referring to the transition from mainframes to personal computers and from cloud to smartphones, he anticipates that this AI cycle will shift from cutting-edge laboratories to local open-source AI, with the latter absorbing storage demand. He simultaneously stated that storage prices will not remain high for over ten years; prices will eventually decline, but new consumer demands driven by local AI and open-source initiatives may provide bottom support.

Financial Associated Press reported on October 12, citing market research firm Counterpoint Research, that the ongoing construction of artificial intelligence infrastructure continues to squeeze the supply of storage chips, putting pressure on costs and supply in consumer electronics. Preliminary data shows that global smartphone shipments in the third quarter of 2026 are expected to decline by 20% year-on-year, reaching the lowest level for the same period since 2012. The storage chip crisis has impacted the smartphone market for the second consecutive quarter, with rising chip costs increasing the overall bill of materials, leading manufacturers to raise retail prices. Since 2026, global smartphone retail prices have cumulatively increased by about 20%.Samsung remains the global leader, with its market share rising to 23% in the third quarter, although shipments declined by 3% year-on-year, marking the largest share increase among major manufacturers. Apple's share rose to 22%, marking its first time surpassing 20% in the third quarter, but shipments declined year-on-year. The absence of the base model iPhone 18 this year resulted in a lower channel distribution scale in the first month of new product launches compared to the previous year's iPhone 17 series. The iPhone 18 Pro series performed better than its predecessor in China and India.Xiaomi's shipments in the third quarter declined by over 30% year-on-year, with its market share dropping to 10%. Both OPPO and vivo saw their shipments decline by over 20% year-on-year, with shares falling to 9% and 8%, respectively. Counterpoint senior analyst Shilpi Jain stated that consumers are holding onto their existing devices for longer and are considering more refurbished devices. Counterpoint indicated that global smartphone shipments are unlikely to see a significant recovery before improvements in storage chip costs and supply.

According to Gate quotes, the Hong Kong stock storage concept has declined, with Southern Double Long SK Hynix (07709.HK) dropping over 17%, and Southern Double Long Samsung Electronics (07747.HK) falling over 14%.

According to Gate market data, the decline in the U.S. stock market's storage and optical communication sectors has narrowed.In the storage sector, Micron Technology (MU) fell by 2.88%, Western Digital (WDC) fell by 2.11%, SanDisk (SNDK) fell by 5.68%, Seagate Technology (STX) fell by 3.62%, and SK Hynix (SKHY) fell by 3.67%.In the optical communication concept stocks, Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) fell by 6.47%, Coherent (COHR) fell by 7.14%, Credo (CRDO) fell by 5.69%, Lumentum (LITE) fell by 1.57%, and Nokia (NOK) fell by 2.99%.

According to a report by ZDNet Korea on October 12, Samsung Electronics is expanding the application range of the next-generation NAND flash memory zNAND and plans to subdivide the products into three types: zNAND-O, zNAND-T, and zNAND-I, in addition to the publicly announced zNAND-O. The report states that Samsung Electronics has not officially announced the latter two products, but the industry has learned that related plans have entered the early development stage to address the increasing demand for customized storage in AI infrastructure.zNAND-O is aimed at edge AI. Unlike traditional wire bonding, this solution vertically stacks NAND in 4 or 8 layers through silicon vias, shortening the data transmission path and enhancing speed and energy efficiency. Samsung Electronics first publicly showcased the zNAND-O model at a memory-related event in the United States in August this year.zNAND-T focuses on throughput and is aimed at high-capacity, high-performance AI data centers, also expanding bandwidth through vertical stacking and silicon vias, and is referred to by the industry as high-bandwidth flash memory. zNAND-I focuses on increasing input/output operations per second, used for frequent processing of small-capacity temporary data such as key-value caches in AI inference. The report also mentions that SK Hynix is developing AI NAND product series such as AIN P, AIN D, and AIN B.

Changxin Storage (CXMT), a Chinese memory chip company, announced that it has made key progress on a new storage architecture. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are also advancing similar architectures to increase storage density. The company's president, Cao Kanyu, stated at an industry event in Shanghai that Changxin Storage plans to launch new server memory products based on this architecture by the end of 2026, according to a company statement.The architecture is designed as 4F², meaning each memory cell occupies an area of 4F², where F is the minimum line width of the semiconductor. The company claims that this proprietary transistor design can improve storage density and efficiency by accommodating more memory cells on a single chip. Currently, mainstream commercial DRAM uses a 6F² cell structure.

According to South Korean media reports, Samsung Electronics has signed long-term agreements for storage supply for next year, covering approximately 75% to 80%, including high bandwidth memory. The reports indicate that Samsung Electronics has finalized most contracts with major tech companies such as NVIDIA, Google, and Microsoft.SK Hynix and Micron are also accelerating the locking of supply volumes and signing a series of large-scale long-term contracts with major customers. Samsung Electro-Mechanics is reportedly close to signing a long-term agreement worth 700 billion Korean won with Taiwanese power electronics company Delta Electronics for the supply of multilayer ceramic capacitors.

According to Gate market data, U.S. stocks opened with the Dow Jones down 0.62%, the S&P 500 index down 0.45%, and the Nasdaq down 0.61%. The storage sector saw widespread declines, with Micron Technology, Seagate Technology, Western Digital, SanDisk, and SK Hynix all down about 2.5%.

According to Gate market data, U.S. stocks in the semiconductor, storage, and optical communication sectors rose broadly before the market opened on Monday.In the semiconductor sector, Lam Research (LRCX) rose 0.21%, Applied Materials (AMAT) rose 0.21%, Arm (ARM) rose 0.7%; in the storage sector, Micron Technology (MU) rose 0.03%, Western Digital (WDC) rose 1.62%, SanDisk (SNDK) rose 0.87%, Seagate Technology (STX) rose 1.56%.In the optical communication concept stocks, Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) rose 1.45%, Coherent (COHR) rose 0.88%, Credo (CRDO) rose 1.44%, Lumentum (LITE) rose 0.88%, Nokia (NOK) rose 0.19%, Astera (ALAB) rose 1.88%.

According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin's monitoring, the largest short position established the day before Changxin Storage (Changxin Storage) went public has been completely closed 10 hours ago.This address shorted at a price of $6.5 and closed the position at a price of $8.5 after holding for 2 months, resulting in a total loss of $10.98 million, including a funding fee loss of $5.18 million and a price change loss of $5.8 million.

Tesla (TSLA.O) deployed 13.7 gigawatt-hours of energy storage products in the third quarter.

According to Gate market data, some U.S. storage chip stocks fell before the market opened, with Seagate Technology down 11.4% and Western Digital down 7.1%.