Korean media: This year, the storage chip market is expected to grow by 17%, and China's pursuit speed is too fast! On April 16, South Korean media "Everyday Economics" published an article stating that the storage chip market in the current year is expected to increase by 17% year-over-year, showing an upward trend. Due to adjustments in inventory of storage chips by smartphone and PC manufacturing enterprises, demand for storage chips is expected to slow down by mid-2025, but it is anticipated that demand for storage chips will recover in the second half of the year, although semiconductor demand is expected to recover in the second half. According to an analysis report from the Korea Eximbank, major semiconductor companies are expected to expand investment centered on DRAM and HBM, and promote reducing the proportion of low-value-added product production. The DRAM market is expected to increase by 15% year-over-year, and business conditions are expected to improve starting from mid-2025 when inventory adjustments are completed, but the decoupling between high-end products and traditional products will intensify. In particular, due to the expansion of production capacity and aggressive pricing policies by Chinese companies, industry conditions are expected to further improve, with DDR4 price declines expected to be greater than those of DDR5. For example, when Changxin Memory expanded sales of DDR4 and LPDDR4 to Chinese smartphone and PC manufacturers in the third quarter of 2024, relevant DRAM prices declined. In response, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron are countering by reducing DDR4 production and expanding DDR5 production, but Changxin Memory has recently begun mass production of DDR5. Due to increased demand from artificial intelligence, IoT, etc., the system semiconductor market is expected to grow by approximately 8% year-over-year, with growth expected to slow in 2025, but the growth trend will continue. Based on shipment volume, Changxin Memory's DRAM market share expanded from 3.1% in the second quarter of 2024 to around 3.6% in the fourth quarter of 2024, and is expected to further increase its market share, focusing on the mobile sector. According to the report, through capturing Chinese smartphone manufacturers, the market share of mobile DRAM is expected to increase from 9.6% in the third quarter of 2024 to 22.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025. In particular, the company plans to enter the server DRAM market in 2025, with a market share of 2% expected in the fourth quarter of 2025. Yangtze Memory, a NAND flash company, is rapidly catching up in terms of technological level with leading companies, but due to U.S. sanctions, its NAND flash market share remains stagnant at 3%. Currently, it is producing 232-layer NAND flash, while SK Hynix is mass-producing 321-layer NAND flash, Samsung Electronics is mass-producing 286-layer NAND flash, and Micron is mass-producing 232-layer NAND flash. The technology gap with leading companies is narrowing. Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1829562165744643/ Disclaimer: This article represents only the views of the author.