According to South Korean media reports, as new AI PC products equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities begin to enter the market, it is expected that the demand for high-performance DRAM will not only expand, but also for NAND Flash flash memory that has not yet recovered from economic recession, bringing important recovery opportunities to the overall storage market.

With the installation of CPUs in AI PCs that fully support DRAM specifications such as DDR5, LPDDR5, and LPDDR5x, as well as the need for solid-state drives (SSDs) that can store a large amount of AI learning data, it is expected that the demand for DRAM will expand, which will also increase the demand for UFS type NAND Flash flash memory.

Previously, Intel announced that its next-generation Core Ultra processor would be installed in approximately 230 AIPCs and announced plans to support sales of 100 million PCs by 2025. According to Trend Force's forecast, PC shipments will be limited to 167 million units in 2023, a decrease of 10.2% from 2022. However, benefiting from the development of AIPC, the market will grow by 3.2% in 2024, reaching 172 million units.

With the launch of AI PCs, the demand for high-performance DRAM is expected to expand from servers to the smartphone and PC markets. After Intel and AMD's latest AIPC processors fully support DRAM specifications such as DDR5, LPDDR5, and LPDDR5x, the price of LPDDR5 and LPDDR5x is about 10-20% higher than the previous generation LPDDR4 and LPDDR4X, which provides good operational support for storage manufacturers.

So far, in the sales volume of high-value products related to DRAM, DDR5 and HBM3 used for AI servers account for a relatively high proportion. But the generative AI developed in this way is expected to be popularized in smartphones and laptops respectively, which will further increase the sales of high value-added LPDDR5 and LPDDR5x.

In addition, starting from the first half of 2024, 40 global personal computer companies will launch over 250 types of personal computers equipped with Intel Ultra Core, which will increase the market penetration rate of AI PCs and also lead to an increase in the supply of related high value-added memory. Among them, it is expected that the global DRAM market will reach $104 billion by 2025, exceeding the highest of $93.5 billion before 2021 and setting a historical record.

The report emphasizes that with the launch of AI PCs, it is expected to also increase the demand for NAND Flash flash memory storage devices for storing data. According to market insiders in South Korea, it is expected that storage devices composed of NAND Flash memory, such as SSDs and UFS, will be needed to effectively manage the data required for device side AI. Moreover, based on the trend of AI deployment on devices and the space demand for storing learning data, it is expected to become an opportunity in the NAND Flash flash market in the future.

In addition, with the booming development of the device side AI market, the demand for DRAM and NAND Flash flash memory seems to be increasing starting from this month. Market analysts say that the current inventory of semiconductors in personal computer and smartphone companies has been depleted, and the demand for inventory is rapidly increasing before the launch of new products in the first half of 2024. Moreover, the current order situation has clearly exceeded expectations.