The head of the SK Group, which owns SK hynix, said in a press briefing that memory semiconductor prices are “abnormally high,” and that the industry must take steps to increase supply and help lower prices. The Chosun Daily<\/a> writes that SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won delivered this statement during a press briefing at an industry forum, where he also noted that the group is looking at building a memory chip plant in the U.S. to increase production. <\/p>\n “Memory prices are currently at an abnormally high level. While AI companies can absorb increased costs through investments, PC and smartphone manufacturers have no choice but to pass rising semiconductor costs onto product prices,” Chey told the media. “Since most customers for these products are individuals, there are limits to how much prices can be raised. To prevent ‘chipflation’\u2014where rising chip prices drive up finished product costs\u2014supply must be expanded.” <\/p>\n Aside from expanding supply and easing memory prices for consumer products, extremely high memory prices brought about by limited supply could negatively impact the big three companies. That’s because the high margins could lead to the entry of new players or give smaller manufacturers the opportunity to grow their presence and challenge the established firms. We’re already seeing this, as some Chinese brands have ditched them for domestically produced CXMT and YMTC chips<\/a>. While this could be driven by Beijing, even major multinational brands like Corsair<\/a> and Lenovo<\/a> have started sourcing from these companies just to get chips. Even Apple is asking permission from Washington to buy memory chips from CXMT<\/a>. Aside from that, he also cited Elon Musk’s interest in building his own fab<\/a> as a potential threat to existing memory semiconductor companies. <\/p>\n