From frenzy to fallout: why the chips are down for Shenzhen’s tech traders

While the world’s largest memory-chip makers are reaping record profits from the artificial intelligence boom, traders in Shenzhen’s Huaqiangbei electronics market are being left to deal with the fallout of a speculative frenzy that has sharply reversed, wiping out much of the value of their inventories since late 2025.

“The market surge last year became so frantic that everyone from shoemakers to fishmongers piled into memory-chip speculation,” a trader surnamed Liu said from his cramped stall inside Huaqiang Electronic World in Shenzhen on Wednesday.

“Now many of them are trapped in it.”

Prices for some of the most in-demand products, including fourth-generation dynamic random-access memory chips, or DDR4, have plunged about 40 per cent since peaking late last year, according to traders and distributors at the sprawling Huaqiangbei marketplace, widely regarded as the world’s largest spot market for electronic components.

A 16-gigabit DDR4 memory kit now sells for roughly 600 yuan (US$83), down from more than 1,000 yuan at the height of the rally in late 2025, according to veteran vendor Chen, whose stall faces Liu’s across a narrow aisle.

Even so, prices remain roughly six times higher than their original level of just above 100 yuan.