Humanoid Robots to Drive 20x Jump in DRAM Demand by 2030

Introduction: Robots Become Memory Chips’ Next Big Customer

Memory makers have just enjoyed a boom as AI data centers devoured HBM (High Bandwidth Memory). Now, according to Counterpoint Research, a new customer is emerging: humanoid robots. The firm projects that DRAM (Dynamic Random-Access Memory) demand for humanoid robot ‘brains’ in 2030 will be about 20 times the 2026 level.

Key Facts

• Blended DRAM per robot is expected to rise from 19GB in 2026 to 39GB in 2030.
• Because both per-robot content and shipments grow, total industry DRAM demand is forecast to climb from about 8,300 Tbit in 2026 to about 172,000 Tbit in 2030.
• In Q2 of this year, global HBM market share was SK hynix 50% and Samsung Electronics 33%, per Counterpoint.

Two reports covered the story: Chosun Ilbo, which highlighted it as a new growth engine for Samsung and SK hynix, and Robot Newspaper (irobotnews), which provided the technical detail. Only the latter’s excerpt was available to us, so the Chosun Ilbo’s specifics beyond its headline are not confirmed here.

Item	Chosun Ilbo	Robot Newspaper
Focus	Investment angle: new driver for Samsung and SK hynix	Technical drivers, per-robot memory, market shares
20x forecast	Stated in headline	Explained with figures

Technical Background: Why Robot Brains Need More Memory

A robot’s ‘brain’ is the compute unit that processes streams from cameras, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and tactile sensors in real time and turns them into action. Counterpoint says model design is shifting from a hierarchical structure to an end-to-end approach, which fuses multimodal inputs in one representation space and outputs actions directly. Think of it as moving from a relay race of specialists to one athlete who sees and moves in a single motion; that one model is bigger and hungrier for memory. Adding a World Model further raises storage and compute needs for both training and deployment.

On the compute side, demand for NVIDIA GPUs keeps growing, while automakers such as Tesla and XPeng are developing their own ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) chips. Because robots run on batteries and are sensitive to power use, the report says LPDDR (low-power DRAM) and high-capacity NAND are mainstream now rather than HBM, with 3D DRAM seen as an important longer-term shift.

“레벨4 이상 자율주행차에는 통상 200GB를 넘는 메모리와 수 테라바이트(TB)의 저장장치가 탑재된다”며 “휴머노이드 로봇도 이와 비슷한 수준의 메모리와 저장장치를 필요로 할 것”

That was Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra on the company’s fiscal Q4 2026 earnings call, in the report’s account: Level 4+ autonomous vehicles typically carry over 200GB of memory and several terabytes of storage, and he expects humanoids to need similar amounts.

Global Implications

For memory makers, robots could diversify demand beyond AI servers, favoring low-power DRAM and NAND. Samsung and SK hynix are reportedly preparing supply systems for robot memory, and Micron is clearly watching too. Chip designers and robot makers also stand to gain. Keep in mind this is one research firm’s forecast; actual robot shipments remain uncertain, and the absolute numbers start from a small base.

Conclusion and Outlook

If Counterpoint is right, humanoid robots could become a meaningful new memory market by 2030, echoing the way AI servers lifted HBM. The key things to watch are real robot shipment volumes, the move toward end-to-end models, and whether low-power memory and 3D DRAM mature on schedule.

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Stock Market Impact Analysis

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Investor Impact by Stock

※ Price data via yfinance (may include after-hours). Retrieved: 2026-10-11 12:02 UTC

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Sources (2 articles)

• [Google News KR] “휴머노이드 로봇 ‘두뇌’ D램 수요, 2030년 20배로… 삼전닉스 새 동력” – 조선일보
• [로봇신문] 카운터포인트리서치 “로봇 D램 수요, 2030년까지 20배 증가”

※ This article synthesizes and analyzes the above sources. Generated: 2026-10-11 12:02