DRAM Share in AI Inference Servers to Drop ~40% as Flash Takes Over

AccBalanced · x · 2026-09-01

An infrastructure observer predicts that commodity DRAM market share per AI inference server will fall by approximately 40%, with Flash memory filling the gap and becoming standard for scale-out networks.

Key points:

• Custom Memory is Future: 3D stacking or custom base die (or a mix) is the future. Close collaboration with memory suppliers is critical for survival.
• Advanced Nodes: As compute moves near memory, base die will adopt leading-edge logic processes (e.g., N4, N3).
• Foundry Collaboration: Deep collaboration between logic and memory foundries is expected.
• New Bottleneck: Scale-up domains are the new bottleneck, with expectations for clusters to exceed 128 nodes, some reaching 500+. This will rely on NPO, VCSEL, copper, and PCB technologies.
• SRAM Value: As workloads shift from memory-bound to compute-bound, on-chip weights (SRAM) will become increasingly beneficial.

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