Chip Memory Still Has Big Drama to Play! The Next Main Battlefield is 'This Industry'

The automotive industry is rapidly becoming a key battleground for memory chip manufacturers, signaling a significant shift in the economic landscape of the sector. Driven by the increasing integration of artificial intelligence and advanced computing in vehicles, the demand for memory chips in cars is soaring.

Companies like Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology, already dominant players in the global memory market, are aggressively vying for a leading position in the automotive sector. The memory capacity required for modern vehicles is rapidly expanding, with some systems now comparable to laptops rather than traditional cars. For instance, Mercedes-Benz's MB.OS platform utilizes 4 to 12GB of DRAM for its infotainment system, while BMW's new iX3 electric SUV's cockpit computing system uses 16 to 24GB.

High-end vehicles equipped with advanced driver-assistance systems and autonomous driving capabilities require substantially more memory. Industry analysts estimate that such configurations could approach 70GB of DRAM for the entire vehicle. Micron Technology's CEO, Sanjay Mehrotra, noted that vehicles with L2+ or higher autonomous driving capabilities carry more than five times the memory and storage of ordinary cars. Projections suggest that by 2026, sales of L2+ intelligent vehicles will exceed 20%, rising to over 40% by 2030.

This burgeoning demand is straining supply chains, particularly for automotive-grade flash memory used in electronic control units and driver-assistance systems. TrendForce forecasts that contract prices for single-level cell NAND flash memory could increase by 120% to 170% in the second half of 2026, with potential for further rises. Chipmakers are shifting older production lines to more profitable products, while automakers face lengthy re-testing periods, often months long, to meet safety standards when changing storage components. This dynamic is intensifying competition, with Samsung having surpassed Micron in the automotive memory sector last year, marking its first time achieving this since entering the market in 2015.