Memory chipmakers hope AI frenzy signals end to boom and bust

sk hynix and samsung say the ai boom is changing how memory chips are bought and sold. customers are asking for long-term contracts to lock in supply, rather than riding the usual spot-market swings. that's a shift for an industry famous for boom-bust cycles — hynix and samsung have both seen prices crash before after a demand surge. the acute shortages of high-bandwidth memory, used in ai training chips, are driving the change. sk hynix is the dominant supplier of hbm3e, the latest generation, and samsung is racing to catch up. both say they're now negotiating multi-year deals with big tech buyers. if those contracts stick, it could smooth out the revenue swings that have historically punished memory makers every few years.