Technology companies have been racing to build out computing power to fuel their AI ambitions, but now they face a new bottleneck: memory capacity. This crisis occurs when workloads shift from training models to using AI tools. This is partially driven by agent AI, which allows the system to perform tasks independently. AI agents require more memory to support context and continuous learning. “Memory is in a capacity constraint cycle with unusually long order visibility from AI inference. The risks in 2026 are execution and migration, not demand,” Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note late Thursday. Analysts at the investment bank expect prices to rise further and remain in a “favorable situation” until 2027 as supply catches up with demand. “While the multiple has widened, we believe stock calls still work because there are much higher returns from this,” they wrote. “Bottlenecks are the winners. Buy memory and semi-caps, especially EUV,” he added, referring to the abbreviations for key parts of AI infrastructure. Here are Morgan Stanley’s top 10 stocks with memory bottlenecks. Dynamic Random Access Memory – Samsung, Micron, SK Hynix Dynamic Random Access Memory, also known as DRAM, is a specific component used in AI data centers. Prices rose significantly in 2025 and are widely expected to rise again this year. Morgan Stanley analysts named Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix as notable companies with strong pricing power in the DRAM field. As a result, South Korea’s Samsung benefited from improved product cycles through AI and increased market share for high-memory chips, resulting in an 18% share price increase. Analysts expect SK Hynix, also headquartered in South Korea, to rise 12.2%, while US company Micron is expected to rise 5%. Legacy Memory – Winbond “The gap between supply and demand for legacy memory is widening further,” especially for DDR4/3, NOR, SLC/MLC NAND computer chips manufactured by Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron and others, analysts said, pointing out some predictions that DDR4 prices will rise by as much as 93-98% quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter of 2026. Winbond is cited as a top candidate to take advantage of this, but analysts also say Nanya Tech, Macronix, Longsys, AP Memory, GigaDevice and PSMC “all stand to benefit from the current structure.” “eSSD,” the analysts wrote. We expect Western Digital to rise 6%. Advanced Packaging – DISCO of DISCO Japan manufactures processing equipment and tools for making computer chips, specializing in grinding and polishing equipment that is part of the advanced packaging process. Advanced packaging refers to the actual combination of components to create a chip, including high-capacity parts such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in AI. Analysts said Disco was poised to benefit from HBM’s rapid growth. Analysts at Morgan Stanley said Applied Materials, a U.S. company that supplies equipment needed for semiconductor manufacturing, is “exposure to the most significant growth drivers,” and the investment bank also noted increased DRAM production capacity, which it expects to benefit from a niche but important segment of EUV (ASML) demand. EUV, which is like a powerful laser printer that etches microscopic designs onto silicon wafers to make semiconductors, has dominated EUV to date and will benefit from an increase in the number of EUV layers, Morgan Stanley analysts said.
