The surge in demand for AI computing power is reshaping the landscape of the storage industry

In the context of the continuous deepening of global AI computing power development, semiconductor storage has evolved from a traditional cyclical product to an important data foundation supporting the digital economy and the AI industry. The industry demand shows a medium - to long - term expansion trend. As an industrial investment institution with long - term in - depth involvement in the semiconductor hard - tech track, Kailian Capital adheres to industry research as the foundation, conducts in - depth analysis of the structural opportunities in the storage track, and continuously monitors the industrial dynamics in high - barrier hard - tech fields such as storage, radio frequency, and optoelectronics, focusing on the main lines of domestic substitution and technological innovation.

The growth of global computing power demand is reshaping the market structure and value logic of storage at the fundamental level. According to information from third - party authoritative institutions: IDC released a forward - looking forecast in April 2026 (the statistical scope excludes modules), predicting that the global DRAM chip market size will be approximately $418.6 billion in 2026. The statistical data released by Counterpoint in May 2026 shows that the single - quarter revenue of global DRAM in Q1 2026 reached $97 billion, a quarter - on - quarter increase of 80% and a year - on - year increase of 260%, hitting a record high. The long - term growth logic of the industry is clear, and currently, there is no unified and authoritative forecast for the industry scale in 2030. The core driving force of this round of growth differs from that of traditional consumer electronics, mainly coming from the demand in fields such as large AI models, AIPC, and intelligent driving: the training of models with hundreds of billions of parameters has pushed the video memory of a single GPU from the GB level to the TB level; the data transmission efficiency has a significant impact on AI training, and HBM (High - Bandwidth Memory) has become an important configuration for high - end AI servers due to its high bandwidth; large - scale computing power deployment has promoted the iteration of storage towards high - performance and low - power consumption. According to the joint calculations of multiple industry institutions, the DRAM demand of a single AI server is about 8 - 10 times that of a traditional server. There is a gap between the production expansion progress of overseas leading manufacturers and the market increment, and the tight supply - demand situation is expected to continue, providing strong support for the medium - to long - term development of the industry.

The focus of overseas storage giants on high - end tracks also brings development opportunities for domestic storage. Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron are concentrating resources on high - value - added products such as HBM and high - end DDR5, and simultaneously optimizing the production capacity layout of mid - low - end and consumer - grade DRAM. There are supply gaps in relevant segmented markets. The contract quotation data monitored by TrendForce in February 2026 shows that in the first quarter of 2026, the contract price of conventional DRAM increased by 90% - 95% quarter - on - quarter, the increase of server DRAM was similar, and NAND Flash increased by 55% - 60% quarter - on - quarter. This increase is the forecast range adjusted by TrendForce in February 2026, and the actual market price has basically confirmed this trend. Industry institutions judge that the upward price trend is expected to continue. Against this background, domestic storage has gradually grown from a supplementary supply to an important part of the global supply system, and its penetration rate in the fields of consumer electronics, servers, and industrial control has been continuously increasing.

After years of development, the domestic storage industry has achieved phased breakthroughs in technology, production capacity, and industrial chain support, and has entered a stage where large - scale mass production and high - end upgrading are carried out in parallel. Changxin Technology (Changxin Memory Technologies) is a domestic enterprise that was the first to achieve large - scale mass production of DRAM. The performance gap between its core products and international leading manufacturers is gradually narrowing. It has achieved technological breakthroughs and mass production in mainstream products such as DDR5, and its products have been adopted in large quantities by multiple leading enterprises. According to the public information released by the Shanghai Stock Exchange on May 27, 2026, Changxin Technology's IPO application on the Science and Technology Innovation Board has passed the review of the listing committee and is currently in the registration submission stage. This enterprise is an investment target of Kailian Capital. This process is an important node in the market - oriented promotion of the domestic DRAM industry and is expected to drive the coordinated development of the upstream and downstream industrial chains. Driven by enterprises such as Changxin Technology, a complete industrial chain system covering wafer manufacturing, chip design, and module packaging has been formed in China. The supporting links such as equipment, materials, and packaging and testing have continuously achieved technological breakthroughs, gradually building an industrial ecosystem led by leading enterprises and coordinated by clusters.

Domestic semiconductor enterprises have continuously achieved technological breakthroughs in various segmented tracks. Meixin Semiconductor and OnMicro are also representative hard - tech enterprises invested by Kailian Capital: Meixin Semiconductor focuses on high - performance analog and mixed - signal chips, and its products are widely used in fields such as consumer, automotive, and industrial electronics; OnMicro is a national - level specialized and sophisticated "little giant" enterprise with independent R & D capabilities for radio frequency front - end chips and radio frequency SoCs, and it was listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board in December 2025. The pattern of multi - track coordinated development has laid a solid foundation for the technological innovation and ecological improvement of the domestic semiconductor industry.

Facing the future, driven by the AI industry, the storage industry is presented with multiple development opportunities. Domestic substitution and technological self - control will become the core development directions of the industry. Kailian Capital will continue to adhere to the concept of in - depth industry involvement, rely on professional research to continuously monitor the industrial dynamics in fields such as semiconductor storage, and contribute to the high - quality development of China's semiconductor industry.

Data sources: Information officially released by IDC (April 2026), Counterpoint (May 2026), TrendForce (February 2026), and the Shanghai Stock Exchange (May 27, 2026)

This article is from the WeChat official account "Kailian Capital", and is published by 36Kr with authorization.