Tom's Hardware tracks the cheapest 32GB DDR5 kit in the US at $375, with popular Corsair and Crucial kits above $400, against under $100 for kits a year ago. IDC reports that memory makers have shifted production toward AI data center memory such as high bandwidth memory, and SK hynix has warned that manufacturing constraints will persist through 2030. Tom's Hardware sees no sign of prices letting up soon.
A former SK Hynix employee was sentenced to 18 months in jail for leaking semiconductor manufacturing information to a Chinese firm, with the Seoul High Court upholding the lower court's sentence on appeal, according to Yonhap as reported by Reuters on August 9, 2026. The information involved CMOS image sensors, and the employee, who had worked at the company's office in China, printed out or photographed trade-secret documents from SK Hynix's internal server and disclosed some of the information in a resume submitted to an unnamed Chinese company. The employee admitted all charges and most of the information was recovered. The leak happened in 2022; the sentence was upheld in 2026.
On July 28, 2026, the semiconductor selloff turned brutal in Seoul: Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each fell more than 13%, Kioxia dropped 18%, and the Kospi closed down nearly 11%, its eighth circuit breaker of 2026. It was the fourth straight losing session for chip stocks, with the Nasdaq-100 down 9.7% from its record high. Investors were spooked by a report that a Chinese state-backed company has begun mass producing deep ultraviolet lithography machines, circular financing unease, and stretched valuations. Meanwhile third-quarter DRAM contracts settled 20 to 30% higher during the month, as AI memory demand keeps prices climbing.