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Memory, Part 1: From Boom-Bust Commodity to AI Bottleneck | EP 223
One of the defining market stories of the past 12 months has not been AI chips that compute, but the chips that remember. Equity analyst Shan Rui Yeo explains how memory works, from DRAM and NAND to high bandwidth memory, and how an industry that destroyed wealth for four decades became disciplined after consolidating to three players in 2013. He then walks through what changed: AI inference has made memory the key bottleneck, memory content is climbing with each new generation of GPUs, and new supply takes three to four years to build. With prices up sharply and customers signing long-term agreements, Part 1 of this three-part conversation lands on a commodity industry whose business model is changing in real time.   Key Takeaways Memory is a commodity with a three-to-four-year supply lag, which is why the cycle has always been difficult. Consolidation to three players in 2013 turned four decades of wealth destruction into at least 15% returns on capital through the cycles. In AI inference, memory bandwidth sets the speed of token generation, making memory the key bottleneck. NVIDIA’s Rubin GPU carries 384 GB of DRAM, the equivalent of 32 iPhones per GPU, or 160 million iPhones across five million GPUs. HBM consumes three times the wafer capacity of standard DRAM (four times with HBM4) and is forecast to absorb 30% of DRAM wafers by 2027. DRAM contract prices are up roughly 200% year to date and 400 to 500% year over year, and price increases are reaching phones, laptops, and consoles. Customers are signing three-to-five-year agreements with prepayments, which could support a re-rating of memory companies.   Companies Mentioned: Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Micron, NVIDIA, Intel, Texas Instruments, Apple, Nintendo   Host: Rob Campbell, CFA, Institutional Portfolio Manager Guest: Shan Rui Yeo, CFA, Equity Analyst   This episode is available for download anywhere you get your podcasts.   Founded in 1974, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. (pronounced "more") is a privately owned independent investment firm managing assets for institutional and individual investors. Mawer employs over 250 people in Canada, U.S., and Singapore.   Visit us at: https://www.youtube.com/@MawerInvestment https://www.mawer.com https://www.linkedin.com/company/mawer-investment-management/ https://www.instagram.com/mawerinvestmentmanagement/ #ArtOfBoring #MawerInvestmentManagement #MawerInvestment #Podcasts
Art of Boring
http://www.mawer.com/podcast
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