Major Shake-Up in the Storage Market: Capital Abandons DDR4 and Flocks to MLC NAND

As 2026 begins, the winds in the memory chip market have shifted dramatically. DDR4 DRAM, once plagued by soaring prices, is now showing signs of fatigue, while MLC NAND—once regarded as “traditional”—has unexpectedly become the focus of intense investor interest, with supply shortages potentially reaching as high as 40% in the second half of the year.

This transformation is no accident; it stems from the AI revolution’s profound reshaping of storage demands and the dramatic realignment of market supply and demand driven by technological advancements.

The DDR4 market has recently been experiencing a “false boom.” Prices have surged several-fold over the past year, but this upward trend has now hit a ceiling.

The fundamental contradiction lies in the difficulty of integrating DDR4 into the core use cases of AI infrastructure. AI servers and high-performance computing primarily rely on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and DDR5, with DDR4 excluded from this round of the strongest demand growth.

Meanwhile, soaring prices have already exerted a noticeable dampening effect on consumer markets such as PCs and smartphones. Weaker demand, coupled with the absence of a compelling long-term growth narrative, has cast significant doubt on the future momentum of DDR4, prompting market capital to seek new investment opportunities.

As capital’s attention shifts away from DDR4, MLC NAND has become the new focus. Supply shortages are expected to worsen in the second half of 2026, with the shortfall potentially reaching 40%.

Behind this lies a concentrated contraction on the supply side. Major suppliers such as Samsung and Micron have gradually reduced or ceased production of MLC NAND, shifting their capacity to higher-layer 3D NAND. However, a large number of networking and TV devices still rely on MLC chips of specific capacities and are unable to quickly transition to the new technology, resulting in a severe supply-demand mismatch.

Capital has already reacted. MLC NAND contract prices have surged by 150% in the first quarter of 2026, with even more dramatic price hikes for rush orders. A market once predicted to be winding down is now experiencing a final frenzy driven by structural shortages.

The current market volatility is, at its core, Industry Restructuring Driven by the AI Supercycle 。

AI is not only directly boosting demand for high-end memory such as HBM, but the resulting capacity-competition effect is also cascading down the supply chain. Original manufacturers are prioritizing advanced production capacity for AI-related, high-margin products, which in turn has led to supply constraints for consumer-grade and traditional-market memory chips.

This structural shortage has underpinned a broad-based rise in storage prices and may extend the industry’s current upcycle.

Against the dual backdrop of global supply-chain constraints and domestic substitution, local storage companies find themselves in a unique window of opportunity.

In this field, Shenzhen Jielong Storage Technology Co., Ltd., a national high-tech enterprise, provides end-to-end supply-chain services spanning chip packaging to finished-product assembly. Its product portfolio encompasses industrial- and consumer-grade SSDs, memory cards, and DDR DRAM modules, among others.

In the face of rapid industry transformation, Jielong Storage’s strategy places greater emphasis on leveraging its manufacturing capabilities and operational agility within the supply chain, steadily keeping pace with technological trends, and relying on a comprehensive quality-control system to serve market segments that prioritize cost-effectiveness and reliable supply.

The “ice and fire” saga in the storage market continues. The torrent of AI demand is shaping capital flows while accelerating technological iteration and obsolescence. For every player in the industry, discerning structural shifts in the landscape is far more critical than chasing short-term price swings.

In the midst of a storm, only by going with the flow can we move forward steadily.