Continued investment in AI infrastructure by major CSPs, including purchases of GPUs and deployment of in-house ASICs, has driven strong growth among AI-related chip designers, according to TrendForce’s latest findings.
Conventional DRAM contract prices expected to rise 58–63% QoQ in 2Q26; NAND Flash contract prices up 70–75% QoQ. DRAM suppliers keep reallocating capacity toward server-related applications. Despite downside risks in certain end-market. demand, overall supply remains tight, and prices continue to trend upward. NAND capacity is increasingly allocated to enterprise SSDs, while consumer applications scale back amid cost pressures.
Although global smartphone brands will encounter higher NAND Flash prices in 2026, the average storage capacity for smartphones is projected to grow by 4.8% YoY, according to TrendForce’s recent findings on the memory sector. This growth is fueled by the discontinuation of low-capacity models as NAND producers upgrade their processes, along with increased AI-related demand in flagship smartphones from leading brands.
TrendForce’s latest research on the foundry industry reveals that continued investment in the AI arms race by North American CSPs and AI startups will keep demand for AI processors and supporting ICs strong in 2026. Global foundry revenue is projected to grow 24.8% YoY to approximately US$218.8 billion, with TSMC expected to post the largest increase of around 32% YoY.
According to TrendForce’s latest findings on the AI servers, major CSPs are increasing investment in self-developed chips. In response, NVIDIA shifted the focus of GTC 2026 toward deploying AI inference applications across multiple industries, marking a departure from its previous emphasis on cloud-based AI training.