A Bank of America Merrill Lynch research report shows that Samsung Electronics will include 60%-70% of storage sales in long-term agreements, with terms clearly favoring the supply side: the scope of price cuts is limited (no more than 5% per quarter), while price increases have essentially no upper limit. Against the backdrop of a surge in AI compute demand and constrained capacity expansion, Samsung uses long-term agreements to lock in major customers while retaining flexibility to raise prices. Spot DRAM and NAND prices continue to rebound before the peak season in the fourth quarter; storage prices are supported upward by both AI capital expenditures and the replenishment cycle.
Demand for AI servers continues to grow, continuously supporting upward pressure on storage prices, and the pricing power of leading storage manufacturers has increased significantly.