In particular, HBF technology is expected to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) while increasing the scalability of AI systems. The industry forecasts that the demand of complex Memory solutions, including HBF, will pick up around 2030.

Kioxia announced today on its official website that it has begun sampling UFS 5.0 embedded flash Memory for next-generation mobile applications. UFS 5.0 utilizes MIPI M-PHY version 6.0 for the physical layer and UniPro version 3.0 for the protocol. M-PHY version 6.0 introduces the new HS-GEAR6 mode, theoretically supporting an interface speed of up to 46.6 Gbps per lane; with 2 lanes, UFS 5.0 can achieve approximately 10.8 GB/s of effective read/write performance. The evaluation samples incorporate an in-house newly developed controller for UFS 5.0 and Kioxia’s 8th-generation BiCS FLASH™, and are available in capacities of 512 GB and 1 TB. The package has been newly designed with a small 7.5 x 13 mm size, contributing to board space efficiency and design flexibility.

According to CFM analysis, the global DRAM/NAND Flash market reached $75.51 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025, up 29.2% quarter-over-quarter. The global DRAM market grew 29.8% quarter-over-quarter to $51.97 billion, while the NAND market increased 27.8% quarter-over-quarter to $23.55 billion. For the full year, the global DRAM/NAND Flash market surpassed $200 billion for the first time in history, reaching $221.59 billion, a year-over-year increase of 32.7%.

SHENZHEN, February 12, 2026 — The Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology has issued the “Artificial Intelligence+ Advanced Manufacturing Action Plan (2026–2027)”, marking a strategic shift in the city’s AI and semiconductor policy. For the first time, the plan officially supports emerging chip architectures such as in-Memory computing and compute-in-Memory (CIM) processors, targeting AI applications in smartphones, intelligent robots, and autonomous vehicles. It emphasizes the development of high-performance SoC control chips and promotes domestic alternatives in core AI components.

Hua Hong Semiconductor (01347.HK; 688347.SH) today announced its fourth quarter and full-year results for 2025. Fourth-quarter revenue reached US$659.9 million, a year-on-year increase of 22.4% and a quarter-on-quarter increase of 3.9%, setting a new record high; gross margin was 13.0%, an increase of 1.6 percentage points year-on-year; full-year revenue was US$2.4021 billion, a year-on-year increase of 19.9%; gross margin was 11.8%, an increase of 1.6 percentage points year-on-year; the company's average capacity utilization rate for the year reached 106.1%, a leading level among wafer foundries, reflecting strong market demand and the company's robust operational efficiency.

On February 12, Samsung Electronics announced that it has begun mass production of its industry-leading HBM4 and has shipped commercial products to customers. Samsung’s HBM4 delivers a consistent processing speed of 11.7 gigabits-per-second (Gbps), exceeding the industry standard of 8Gbps by approximately 46% and setting a new benchmark for HBM4 performance. Samsung anticipates that its HBM sales will more than triple in 2026 compared to 2025, and is proactively expanding its HBM4 production capacity. Following the successful launch of HBM4, samples of HBM4E are expected to be released starting in the second half of 2026, while customized HBM samples are scheduled to begin delivery in 2027 according to specific customer specifications.

Samsung is currently developing zHBM, which centers on stacking HBMs in a 3-D structure, and is expected to bring another major innovation in terms of bandwidth or energy efficiency required in the era of physical AI.

SMIC has released its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2025. In this quarter, the company achieved revenue of $2.489 billion, marking a 4.5% quarter-over-quarter increase compared to Q3 2025, and a 12.8% year-over-year growth compared to Q4 2024. Gross profit for the quarter amounted to $478 million, a decrease of 8.5% QoQ and 4.2% YoY, with a gross margin of 19.2%, down 2.8 percentage points from the previous quarter and down 3.4 percentage points from the same period last year.

According to South Korean media reports, Samsung Electronics has decided to commence mass production of HBM4 as early as the third week of this month. These products will be used in NVIDIA’s next-generation AI computing platform, "Vera Rubin."

According to CFM data, contract prices for DDR5 64GB RDIMM range between USD 820 and 950, DDR5 96GB between USD 1,310 and 1,600, and DDR5 128GB between USD 2,100 and 2,400, reflecting an increase of 80% to 120% compared to the previous quarter. Spot prices for server DDR5 RDIMM are even higher than contract prices, with 64GB/96GB/128GB server DDR5 RDIMM prices ranging between USD 2,200 and 2,500, USD 3,800 and 4,000, and USD 4,200 and 4,300, respectively.

According to foreign media reports, the surge in server DRAM and NAND flash Memory prices at the end of last year has prompted domestic cloud computing service providers and hyperscale data centers to accelerate equipment upgrades, leading to a surge in demand for server CPUs. Specifically, the delivery cycle for Intel's Xeon 6 series processors is as long as six months, while the delivery cycle for AMD's fifth-generation EPYC series processors is approximately 10 weeks. The significantly longer delivery cycle for Intel server CPUs compared to AMD is primarily due to the delayed mass production of Intel's Intel 3 process technology, insufficient capacity in its own wafer fabs, and the combined effect of internal capacity allocation strategies.

Driven by strong market demand, Winbond Electronics' DRAM contract prices continued their upward trend in the first quarter of 2026, with an increase of nearly 50%. Currently, all of the company's DRAM production capacity for this year has been fully booked, and even the newly added DDR4 and LPDDR4 capacity of its Kaohsiung Luzhu plant, which is not yet fully operational, has been pre-ordered by customers.

Benefiting from surging global demand for AI servers, large-scale shipments to industrial control projects, and steady increases in Memory prices, Memory module manufacturer Transcend achieved significant revenue growth in January 2026. The company's consolidated revenue for the month reached NT$4.76 billion, a 55.68% increase month-over-month and a staggering 440.61% increase year-over-year, breaking its previous monthly revenue record.

United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), a leading global semiconductor foundry, recently announced its January 2026 revenue figures, marking a solid start to the new year. According to the data, UMC achieved revenue of NT$20.862 billion (approximately US$668 million) in January 2026, an 8.2% increase compared to the previous month and a 5.33% increase compared to the same period last year, achieving double-digit growth both monthly and year-on-year.

According to reports of South Korean media citing industry insiders, Samsung Electronics plans to start shipping HBM4 chips as early as next week, following the Lunar New Year holiday, for use in graphics processing units (GPUs) made by Nvidia. Nvidia's GPUs are widely used in generative AI systems. Samsung has passed Nvidia's quality certification process and secured purchase orders, noting that the production schedule was finalized to align with Nvidia's launch plans for Vera Rubin.