Week in review
- China July retail sales slowed to 0.6% y/y, YTD FAI shrunk 6.7% y/y
- Japan Q2 GDP slowed to 1.1% y/y, inflation rose to 1.9% y/y
- Eurozone CPI rose to 2.9% y/y
Week ahead
- U.S. July PCE index
- China July industrial profits
- Bank of Korea policy rate decision
Thought of the week
Performance across memory names remains highly volatile. While the unwind of leveraged positions now appears largely behind us, recent headlines around Chinese competitors ramping memory capacity have raised questions over the durability of supply tightness and, by extension, the margin outlook for leading memory producers. Latest industry data suggest that although Chinese capacity has nearly doubled over the past year, global memory supply remains highly concentrated among Korean firms. Importantly, the lead time from new fab construction to actual wafer production typically extends well beyond three years, implying that incremental supply through 2028 should remain limited. At the same time, any unmet current demand will roll over to subsequent years, further tightening supply conditions. The increasing use of long-term agreements, where many signed on five-year terms, also points to more durable pricing power for leading memory names. That said, the quality and performance of Chinese memory chips remain important market considerations, especially as investors assess whether Chinese manufacturers can produce frontier high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips at scale.
Global memory supply
Million units
Source: OMDIA, J.P. Morgan Research, J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Supply is aggregate of DRAM (based 8Gb equiv.) and NAND (based on 256Gb equiv.) and based on company. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Data reflect most recently available as of 21/08/2026.
Market data
300a4900-f9d9-11e8-839f-fe2ee17e7f12
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