US Commerce Department requires Samsung and SK Hynix to increase AI memory chip production

The US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has called on South Korean Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to accelerate the expansion of memory chip production on US territory to help eliminate the global shortage of components critical to artificial intelligence development — according to Bloomberg.

Why There's a Memory Shortage for AI

The explosive demand for accelerators for training and inference of large language models has sharply increased consumption of memory chips — primarily high-performance HBM (High Bandwidth Memory), which is installed next to GPUs in AI servers, as well as conventional DRAM, which manufacturers are increasingly redirecting for data center needs. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are the two largest memory chip manufacturers in the world alongside American Micron, and their production capacity is concentrated primarily in South Korea.

• The appeal comes from the head of the US Commerce Department Howard Lutnick
• The addressees of the appeal are Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix
• The goal is to expand memory chip production specifically on US territory
• The reason is the global shortage of components critical to AI development

What's Behind Washington's Pressure

The demand fits into the broader course of the US administration to relocate semiconductor manufacturing to American soil — from subsidy programs for factory construction to direct political pressure on key Asian suppliers. Both Korean giants already have a presence in the US: SK Hynix previously announced plans to build an HBM memory packaging plant in Indiana, and Samsung is building a production complex in Texas — but the bulk of memory production capacity remains in South Korea.

Why Memory Has Become a Bottleneck

Memory remains one of the few segments of the chip market where the US historically depends on South Korean and Taiwanese manufacturers. Unlike logic chips and GPUs, where demand is set by Nvidia and AMD and supply by TSMC, the memory market for AI servers competes for the same production lines as memory for smartphones and PCs, which is why the HBM shortage is felt across the industry.

How the Memory Shortage Is Hitting the Market

The sharp increase in demand for HBM and DRAM from AI data centers has already led to noticeable price increases for memory on other markets: prices for modules for personal computers, general-purpose servers and smartphones have risen as manufacturers redirect production lines to higher-margin AI company orders. This turns memory shortage from a narrow industry issue into a problem felt across all electronics.

What This Means

Pressure on Samsung and SK Hynix shows that the memory shortage is already perceived in Washington not merely as a market problem, but as a matter of national technological competitiveness in the AI race.