China: Chinese chipmakers ramp up production as AI-driven memory shortage deepens.

Storyline Chinese chipmakers ramp up production as AI-driven memory shortage deepens With surging AI demand sparking a global memory chip shortage, Chinese chipmakers are scaling up production to fill the gap. This company in the southern Chinese tech hub Shenzhen City, for instance, began expanding its capacity late last year, with a clear focus on enterprise-grade memory chips. He Han, general manager, Biwin Storage Technology: "Currently, our production lines are operating at near full capacity. We are expanding into areas with high demand, particularly enterprise-grade storage used in data centers, including enterprise-grade SSDs and enterprise-grade memory modules." Experts say the memory chip market is in the midst of an unprecedented supercycle, but with more profitable AI chips gobbling up global production capacity, supplies of traditional memory chips remain painfully tight, fueling the very shortage that Chinese manufacturers are now racing to plug. Xin Yi, research manager, International Data Corporation (IDC) China: "Production lines are being converted to more profitable AI chips, and only a few chipmakers still produce conventional memory chips. Fearing potential supply disruptions, cloud service providers have been stockpiling and locking in orders in advance, creating panic buying that further widens the supply gap." And with AI-driven demand showing no signs of cooling, Xin expects global memory chip supplies to remain tightly constrained through at least 2027. [Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland]