Under the AI wave, the semiconductor market in 2026 has shown significant structural differentiation. High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) has become the “new oil” of the industry, while the consumer electronics sector is facing capacity pressure. According to WSTS predictions, the global semiconductor market size will reach 975.4 billion US dollars in 2026, a year-on-year increase of 26%, approaching the trillion-dollar mark.

As a core component of AI servers, the surge in demand for HBM has driven prices to soar. The price of DRAM for AI servers rose by 50%-55% month-on-month in the fourth quarter of 2025. Global HBM production capacity is monopolized by Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron, with a market share of over 95%, and tech giants have successively locked in production capacity in advance. Benefiting from this, Samsung’s operating profit in Q4 2025 surged by 210% year-on-year, and the stock prices of memory giants collectively rose.

In contrast, the consumer electronics sector has been affected by the compression of general memory production capacity, forcing mobile phone and PC manufacturers to lower their shipment targets. The recovery of demand for mature process chips has been hindered, bringing pressure to relevant foundries. Behind the industry boom, risks such as power bottlenecks, demand bubbles, and geopolitical risks still exist. Domestic enterprises need to seek breakthroughs in areas such as power semiconductors and Chiplet packaging.