--- title: "Nanya Technology earned an 85.7% gross margin on DDR4 as buyers paid 24% more in three months" description: "Nanya, the Taiwanese memory maker with no HBM line, repriced its legacy DRAM book into record profit and an 85.7% gross margin, while the buyers who cannot redesign away from DDR4 paid 24% more in three months." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Chips" published: 2026-10-27T13:23:59.555Z modified: 2026-10-27T13:23:59.555Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/nanya-technology-earned-an-85-7-gross-margin-on-ddr4-as-buyers-paid-24-more-in-three-months language: en keywords: "DRAM, Memory, Nanya Technology, Taiwan, Semiconductors" --- # Nanya Technology earned an 85.7% gross margin on DDR4 as buyers paid 24% more in three months > Nanya, the Taiwanese memory maker with no HBM line, repriced its legacy DRAM book into record profit and an 85.7% gross margin, while the buyers who cannot redesign away from DDR4 paid 24% more in three months. ## A retirement that got canceled DDR4 was supposed to die on schedule [1]. The memory standard inside PCs, factory equipment and cars was meant to fade as its successor DDR5 took over; instead its contract price [rose 24% over the past three months](https://theinference.org/article/a-sandisk-sd-card-lists-at-6-500-pesos-nine-times-its-2023-price-as-nanya-posts-an-85-7-margin), beating DDR5's 20% gain, on [Barclays](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/barclays) data reported October 25, 2026 [1]. Supply retired faster than demand did. ## One quarter, NT$87.6 billion of profit [Nanya Technology](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/nanya-technology), the Taiwanese pure-play still making older-generation DRAM at scale, just booked the best quarter in its history: revenue of NT$133.65 billion, up 61.9% from the second quarter and 611.7% from a year earlier, and record net profit of NT$87.63 billion [1][2]. Downstream, [Gartner projects average PC prices up about 17% this year on memory costs](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/general/dram-prices-surge-17-as-ai-gobbles-wafer-supply-nanya-posts-record-85-7-margin/ar-AA2e6G87) [3]. ## No HBM, wider margins than HBM The strange part: Nanya builds no high-bandwidth memory at all. Gross margin hit 85.7%, up from 79.5% in Q2, operating margin reached 80%, and President Pei-Ing Lee [told investors](https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/2408.TW/earnings/2408.TW-Q3-2026-earnings_call-707068.html) that margins on every DRAM line now outperform HBM itself [1][2][3]. *Chart: **Margins and growth in Nanya's record quarter** Column chart: gross margin, operating margin and quarterly and annual revenue growth for Nanya's record quarter* *Reported margins and revenue growth for Nanya Technology's record quarter. Sources: VLSI Korea market bulletin; Nanya Q3 FY2026 earnings call transcript. [1][2]* A gigabyte of HBM, the stacked memory behind AI accelerators, eats roughly three times the wafer area of a gigabyte of DDR5, so each wafer Samsung, [SK hynix](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/sk-hynix) and [Micron](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/micron) moved toward AI memory withdrew several times its share from conventional supply [1][3]. DDR4 alone still carries 12-14% of global DRAM demand, because factories and cars cannot redesign around a new standard in one cycle [2]. ## Price did the work, contracts hold it Nanya sold less to earn more: average selling prices rose more than 60% quarter over quarter while bit shipments fell by a mid-single-digit percentage, and management said over half the jump came from [low-priced long-term contracts signed in the 2024-25 downturn rolling off](https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20261012PD236/nanya-technology-low-priced-dram-gross-margin-2026.html) [2][4]. Buyers are now locking supply in, with long-term agreements covering 50-70% of capacity and three-year deals exceeding 20% of output [2]. Winbond, the other large Taiwanese legacy supplier, took NT$82.33 billion of quarterly revenue, up 37.6% [1]. Murata, the world's largest capacitor maker, is making the same move in passives, dropping consumer and automotive parts earning under 5% gross margin, with final orders in 2028 and last shipments in 2029, to free capacity for AI servers [5][6]. *Chart: **Nanya's whole book repriced faster than the DDR4 market** Nanya's Q3 DRAM average selling price rose more than 60% from the second quarter, versus 24% for DDR4 contract prices and 20% for DDR5 over three months.* *Percentage price gains: Nanya's company-reported Q3 average selling price versus the second quarter, against DDR4 and DDR5 contract-price moves over the three months to late October. Sources: Nanya Q3 2026 earnings call; Barclays data compiled by VLSI Korea. [1][2]* ## Every memory cycle ends the same way The bear case comes from Nanya itself: December-quarter prices improve only gradually, a slower pace than Q3, shipments stay flat until new output arrives in the second half of 2027, and the NT$346.6 billion Fab 5A reaches 30,000 wafer starts a month only at the end of 2028 [1][2]. Third-party estimates put peak undersupply at 13.9% in the fourth quarter of 2027 [1]. [At TWD 422 on October 20](https://www.ad-hoc-news.de/boerse/news/corporate-news/nanya-technology-reports-q3-profit-surge-for-nanya-technology-stock/70371284), well under its 52-week high of TWD 569, the market is already pricing the windfall as temporary [7]. ## January decides what this was The next reading is dated: Nanya reports on January 14, 2027 [7]. If 2027 contracts carry the DDR4 premium, the margin becomes a fixed cost line for buyers through 2028; if prices stall, this was a timing story [7]. The margin sits with whoever stayed, not with whoever led. ## Takeaway Nanya, with no HBM line, turned the DDR4 shortage into an 85.7% gross margin and record NT$87.63 billion profit as contract prices rose 24% in three months; the question is whether 2027 contracts make the premium permanent. ## Sources 1. [VLSI Korea, "Market Bulletin: Legacy DRAM Returns: DDR4 Prices Rise 24% as Nanya Gross Margin Reaches 85.7%", 27 October 2026](https://www.vlsi.kr/en/legacy-dram-revival-mb-en/) 2. [Yahoo Finance, "Nanya Technology (2408.TW) Q3 FY2026 earnings call transcript", 12 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/2408.TW/earnings/2408.TW-Q3-2026-earnings_call-707068.html) 3. [Tech Times via MSN, "DRAM prices surge 17% as AI gobbles wafer supply: Nanya posts record 85.7% margin", 12 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/general/dram-prices-surge-17-as-ai-gobbles-wafer-supply-nanya-posts-record-85-7-margin/ar-AA2e6G87) 4. [DigiTimes, "Nanya gross margin hits 85.7% as low-priced DRAM contracts roll off", 12 October 2026 (subscription; lede verified)](https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20261012PD236/nanya-technology-low-priced-dram-gross-margin-2026.html) 5. [The Korea Herald, "AI boom gives Samsung pricing power as MLCC supply tightens", 17 September 2026](https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10877230) 6. [AllFacts.ai, "TrendForce: Murata will take final orders for discontinued consumer MLCCs in 2028, last shipments 2029", 24 September 2026](https://allfacts.ai/facts/trendforce-murata-mlcc-consumer-exit-2029) 7. [Ad Hoc News, "Nanya Technology reports Q3 profit surge for Nanya Technology stock", 20 October 2026](https://www.ad-hoc-news.de/boerse/news/corporate-news/nanya-technology-reports-q3-profit-surge-for-nanya-technology-stock/70371284) --- Nanya Technology earned an 85.7% gross margin on DDR4 as buyers paid 24% more in three months — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/nanya-technology-earned-an-85-7-gross-margin-on-ddr4-as-buyers-paid-24-more-in-three-months