FTAV’s recent look at the ultra‑concentrated memory chip sector shows why the market is in a frenzy. Samsung posted bumper earnings but its share price lagged sky‑high expectations, while SK Hynix pulled off a $26.5bn ADR offering in the US with strong demand. Meanwhile, little‑known Scale Flux, a memory‑controller design firm, is rumored to be eyeing an IPO. The company claims to accelerate data movement for AI and data‑centre workloads and, according to Pitch Book, has raised $288mn at a $1bn valuation in 2021.

Investors are feeding the hype, with memory stocks posting 15‑fold quarterly profit jumps and 19‑fold year‑on‑year growth, even as the big players—Micron, Samsung and SK Hynix—have slipped from June peaks on fear the rally may be over. Yet DRAM prices keep creeping up and the DRAM ET F attracted another $1.9bn last week, pushing one‑month inflows toward $9bn. The sector’s oddball dynamics suggest the excitement will linger, at least for now.