The demand for AI inference is sharply increasing, leading to a significant rise in the need for AI computing power. This trend has resulted in supply-demand imbalances within the hardware sector, impacting various components and contributing to systemic challenges in the industry.
According to a report from the electronics team at Orient Securities, directed by Xue Hongwei, the semiconductor foundry and packaging/testing industries are experiencing price hikes for certain process nodes due to heightened AI power demands and production cuts by major manufacturers. Additionally, several packaging and testing firms are raising prices in response to escalating raw material costs.
In the memory market, TrendForce anticipates that the sector's output value will reach $551.6 billion by 2026, marking a substantial increase from the previous year. Price fluctuations for DRAM and NAND Flash are projected to extend into 2027. The CPU market is also affected, as rising demands for AI-driven general computing are pushing up server CPU costs.
Companies like Cambricon, Hygon, and Moore Threads are becoming prominent in the chip manufacturing landscape, while major firms such as Alibaba and Baidu are advancing their self-designed chip initiatives. The easing of U.S. restrictions on NVIDIA's H200 chip exports may further stimulate domestic server manufacturing and maintain strong demand for essential materials.