The LLMs Must Feed
Coming into 2026 it is unlikely anyone would have been betting on Elite Semiconductor Microelectronics Technology, aka ESMT, ramping up DDR2 production but that is exactly what is happening. SK Hynix and Micron are also planning on getting back into the DDR2 business in a meaningful way, but it will take them a few years to do so. Winbond on the other hand figures the best money to be made is with DDR3 DDR4, and LPDDR4.
That’s not to say they aren’t still cranking out DDR5, it’s just that the next few years of production is already claimed by the voracious appetites of the LLM companies. Since there isn’t any DDR5 for us peons, the solution to look at older tech is expected to result in a DDR2 and DDR3 price jump of around 50% this summer and by the end of the year at least another 40% or so. In other words, the price of DDR2/3 DIMMs is likely to double by 2027.
Ain’t the AI revolution grand?
Some of the big memory makers are planning to increase capacity, but only slowly. Korean giant SK hynix aims to double silicon wafer output capacity over the next five years, while US biz Micron expects "meaningful new capacity" at its new Virginia fabrication plant in 2027 and 2028.
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You can’t even run 11 on a DDR2 box. The only supported OS you can now run on a DDR box is 10 IoT.