Over the past thirty years, the global memory sector has witnessed substantial changes. During the 1980s and 1990s, Japanese firms almost held a monopoly in the DRAM market. Yet, as the 21st century dawned, South Korean producers gradually supplanted Japan as the frontrunner in the DRAM market. This shift was facilitated by government backing, substantial capital infusion, and technological advancements, which helped them secure enduring technological, scale-related, and financial advantages.

With the onset of the AI era, the need for memory in high-performance computing has skyrocketed, rendering HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) an indispensable component. HBM boosts bandwidth and capacity considerably by stacking DRAM chips vertically, thereby fulfilling the high computational power and expansive bandwidth demands of AI chips. Capitalizing on their profound knowledge in DRAM stacking, packaging, and yield management, South Korean producers swiftly established a commanding presence in the HBM market. High-end GPUs rely almost exclusively on their supply, enabling them to capitalize significantly on the AI surge.

Conversely, Japan is devoid of mainstream DRAM production capabilities, has not made significant strides in HBM technology, and is unable to undertake large-scale capital investments. Consequently, Japan is almost entirely absent from the global HBM supply chain, retaining only a modest footprint in domains such as materials, equipment components, and select packaging processes.