Direxion Daily Korea Bull 3x Shares ETF

Expert Takeaways: Memory

> S/D gap of at least 20% in second half of 2026.

> Big vendors have just begun forecasting since demand for 2027 has not settled yet.

> S/D gap for 2027 is possibly around 10%. A pessimistic take believing in balance by end of next year.

$Micron Tech(MU.US) $DRAM $EWY $SK Hynix(SKHY.US)

CEO of Phison disagrees with the CXMT memory scare and calls it a "ghost story from the market."

He states next year "there will be a shortage of everything except orders." He is more worried about the shortage of materials causing them to be unable to deliver on time than about the visibility of orders.

$Micron Tech(MU.US) $DRAM $EWY

BofA on CXMT's 4F2 architecture:

Restricted from importing ASML’s EUV lithography tools due to US sanctions, CXMT is likely advancing toward 4F2 architecture faster than the "Big 3" DRAM manufacturers.

While the top three producers have already shifted to EUV-based 6F2 designs at low- to mid-10nm nodes and have researched 4F2 for over a decade, they have avoided mass production.

This hesitation stems from poor manufacturing yields, steep costs, and technical challenges—such as extreme heat and structural fragility when cramming billions of transistors and capacitors into a compact die.

$Micron Tech(MU.US) $DRAM $EWY

Chey Tae-won, chairperson of SK Group, wants to speed up chip plant expansion to avoid losing memory market share in Korea.

He said, "If Chinese companies or U.S. Micron expand faster, Korea's market share will shrink," adding, "There is huge demand, but if we can't expand plants, that's the problem."

He went on to explain that "CXMT and YMTC are continuing to advance at a terrifying pace," suggesting that it would be difficult to stop the growth of Chinese corporations with U.S. semiconductor restrictions alone.

$Micron Tech(MU.US) $DRAM $EWY $SK Hynix(SKHY.US)

Expert Takeaways: Samsung

> Samsung's Production & Sourcing Shift: Samsung is reallocating 10%+ of its 1c node capacity from LPDDR5X to HBM by 2027, while its mobile division relies on a multi-supplier strategy rather than prioritizing internal memory supply.

> NAND Product Breakdown & Sales Channels: SSDs account for ~62% of Samsung's NAND shipments (mostly for data centers), while agency channels handle 30%–40% of overall NAND shipments and 60% of Samsung's mobile UFS sales.

> Q3 2026 Price Hikes: Price increases from Samsung (~18%–19% for enterprise SSDs) and SK Hynix helped push YMTC's Q3 2026 contract price hikes for domestic CSPs up to 25%. DRAM saw even steeper growth, with China data center contracts rising 30%–40%.

> Tech Gap with YMTC: YMTC's Xtacking V8 (232 layers) trails Korean peers who mass-produce 296-layer (V9) and 400-layer (V10) chips, keeping YMTC's enterprise SSD data center market penetration under 10%.

> HBF & Foundry Forecasts: HBF is viewed as a cost-reduction tool for mid/low-end GPUs—expanding capacity but reducing bandwidth by ~17%—while Samsung's foundry utilization is expected to grow from 73% in 2026 to ~85% in 2027.

Date: 10/7/26

$Micron Tech(MU.US) $DRAM $EWY

After holding a conference with major memory makers, BofA remains confident in the memory super-cycle continuing through 2028-2030 with no downturn, as high ASPs, strong demand, and supply tightness continue.

$Micron Tech(MU.US) $DRAM $EWY $DISK $SK Hynix(SKHY.US) $Sandisk(SNDK.US)

HSBC: Server DRAM prices should continue rising

amid strong demand for AI and general servers.

$Micron Tech(MU.US) $DRAM $EWY $SK Hynix(SKHY.US)

KB Securities: with higher HBM4 shipments, we expect Samsung Electronic's HBM market share to jump from 33% in 2Q26 to ~40% in 4026.

$Micron Tech(MU.US) $DRAM $DISK $EWY

Preliminary Exports | September 10, 2026

Based on figures from the 1st to the 10th of each month

DRAM: +529% Y/Y, +79% M/M

MCP (HBM): +293% Y/Y, +87% M/M

MLCC: +38% Y/Y, +65% M/M

$Micron Tech(MU.US) $DRAM $DISK $EWY $SK Hynix(SKHY.US)

MIC report with a supply/demand assessment on various AI components.

HBM/Commodity DRAM: tight through 20227-2028

High-end MLCC: tight in 2027; 2028 to be watched

ABF Substrate: may ease in 2028

ABF Buildup Film: tight in 2027; may ease in 2028

High-end CCL: tight in 2027; may ease in 2028

T-Glass: possible turning point in H2'27

NAND: may ease from late 2027 through 2028

$Micron Tech(MU.US) $DRAM $EWY $DISK $Sandisk(SNDK.US)