Samsung Co-CEO warns unprecedented technology shortage could affect smartphone, TV prices

Group 1: Memory Shortage Impact - Samsung Co-CEO TM Roh highlighted an "unprecedented" shortage in computer memory, affecting the entire consumer hardware industry and likely leading to increased prices for TVs, home appliances, and smartphones [1] - The memory market is primarily divided into volatile memory (DRAM) for short-term data access and non-volatile memory (NAND flash) for long-term storage [2] Group 2: Demand Dynamics - The demand for memory has surged due to hyperscalers like Alphabet, Meta, and Oracle investing billions in data centers for AI, significantly impacting the semiconductor industry [3] - Global memory producers are shifting focus towards high-performance computing (HPC) equipment, with Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron dominating the DRAM market [4] Group 3: Price Trends - Prices for current-generation DDR5 RAM have more than doubled, while DDR4 RAM has also seen significant price increases, affecting the PC computing business [5] - NAND flash prices are expected to rise by "up to 50, 75%" due to competition among hyperscalers, positively impacting shares of storage makers like Western Digital and Seagate [6] Group 4: Market Reactions - The memory shortage has positively influenced stock market benchmarks in South Korea and Taiwan, with both regions' indexes reaching record highs, driven by optimism for companies like TSMC, Samsung, and SK Hynix [7]