After a year to forget, the global market for memory chips is hoping for a bounce next year, as the rollout of 5G smartphones and new data centres boosts demand.
The optimism has fed through to the market, with the share price of Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest memory chipmaker, rising 9 per cent since the beginning of November. Fellow Korean chipmaker SK Hynix is up nearly 13 per cent in the same period, while US company Micron is up nearly 14 per cent.
Investors, analysts and industry players have been expecting the cycle to bottom out for some time, but the lengthy trade war between the US and China has made demand for chips unpredictable and complicated the rollout of 5G, the next generation of mobile internet.