Nvidia's CEO says memory chips won't be oversupplied by 2029, pushing back on a warning that rattled memory stocks and could affect device prices.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says he does not expect a surplus of computer memory by 2029. He told CNBC on Thursday that the market is unlikely to be flooded with supply, even after a week of heavy selling in memory company stocks. His reason is simple: "you can always use more of it."
Huang spoke on the sidelines of Nvidia's GTC Berlin conference. He said a type of memory called HBM, a form of RAM (the fast working memory chips use), will be used for years to come.
He also pointed to LPDDR memory, the kind found in cell phones. He said Nvidia is the first company to put it into data centers. According to Huang, that has made its systems twice as energy efficient as anything else available today, so Nvidia will keep using large amounts of it.
The sell-off followed an opinion column published Oct. 15 in a prominent South Korean publication. It urged the government to prepare for a slowdown in the AI boom. Two experts quoted in it expect a "flood of new supply" that turns the memory market into "a red ocean" in 2029. They wrote that the "supercycle could be over."
A glut could push memory prices lower and cut profits for makers such as SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron. Elon Musk replied at the time that China "will be making a LOT of RAM in 2028."
The sell-off was also driven by China's ChangXin Memory Technologies, or CXMT. It announced a new chip design that could make its products more efficient. Investors worry it could take business from SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron.
Asked whether Nvidia might use CXMT memory, Huang said, "We're open-minded." He added that nearly everyone works with Chinese companies somewhere in the supply chain, and that the world must take China's manufacturing strength seriously. He also said U.S. rules limiting chip exports to China have sped up China's own chip efforts.
Memory is inside your phone and your computer. If supply outruns demand, prices for memory could fall. If memory stays scarce, prices stay high. Nothing in this story says what any device will cost.
The 2029 warning is an opinion column, and Huang leads a company that depends on memory. Both are predictions, not facts about what will happen.
Nvidia's CEO says memory demand will stay strong through 2029, but nobody knows yet whether prices for phones and computers will fall.
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