Berenberg: Conventional DRAM prices may continue to rise in 2027, HBM faces profit catch-up pressure

June 22nd – Analysts at Bernstein stated in a recent report that commodity DRAM, which saw a roughly 4.5x price surge from the third quarter of 2025 to the second quarter of 2026, may continue its upward price trajectory in 2027. As a result, current commodity DRAM already boasts an average selling price per bit that matches, or even exceeds, that of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), per the firm’s analysis. Bernstein noted that thanks to higher bit density and yield, this year’s revenue per wafer for commodity DRAM could double that of HBM, translating to a significantly higher profit margin. The institution estimated HBM prices would need to rise roughly threefold to match commodity DRAM’s revenue per wafer. However, memory chip manufacturers are unlikely to pursue aggressive price hikes for HBM, as they recognize the technology’s high costs could hinder the broader artificial intelligence ecosystem’s development and ultimately dampen overall memory demand.