The call supports the view that memory, and HBM in particular, remains one of the strongest earnings stories in the AI supply chain, which helps memory makers and chip equipment suppliers after the recent tech sell-off. The gap between TrendForce’s and BofA’s price assumptions is the key risk for investors: if BofA’s earlier-correction scenario plays out, 2027 earnings forecasts across the sector may need to come down. Long-term supply agreements reducing volatility beyond 2028 would challenge the industry’s traditional boom-bust pattern, and could justify higher valuation multiples. The outlook also ties in with today’s UBS and SoftBank notes, which highlighted data centre power and policy as constraints on the AI build-out.--TrendForce and BofA agree the memory boom has legs, but differ widely on prices, and that gap is where the risk lies.Summary:BofA says the memory upcycle could last through 2027 and avoid a downturn in 2028, citing TrendForce’s Avril WuWu expects Q4 DRAM and HBM prices to rise 10% to 20% quarter on quarter, and NAND to rise 8% to 13%She sees HBM prices more than doubling in 2027, with long-term supply deals reducing volatility beyond 2028BofA is more cautious: Q4 DRAM up 8%, NAND up 3%, HBM gains in 2027 below 50%, and corrections possibly starting earlier in 2027BofA forecasts memory industry revenue of $970 billion in 2026, $1.47 trillion in 2027 and $1.58 trillion in 2028The memory chip industry’s current upcycle could last through 2027 and avoid a downturn in 2028, Bank of America said, citing comments from TrendForce’s Avril Wu during a BofA-hosted webcast on November 10.Wu said memory prices were likely to keep climbing. She expects DRAM and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) prices to rise 10% to 20% in the fourth quarter of 2026 from the previous quarter, with NAND flash prices up 8% to 13%. Looking further out, she sees HBM prices more than doubling in 2027. She also said long-term supply agreements between chipmakers and customers could help reduce price swings beyond 2028.BofA broadly shares the bullish outlook but is more cautious on pricing. The bank expects fourth-quarter DRAM prices to rise 8% on the quarter and NAND prices 3%, both well below TrendForce’s ranges. It also sees HBM price increases in 2027 staying below 50%, far short of the doubling Wu expects, and warned that price corrections could begin earlier in 2027.Even on those more conservative assumptions, BofA’s numbers point to a historic run. The bank forecasts global memory industry revenue of $970 billion in 2026, rising to $1.47 trillion in 2027 and $1.58 trillion in 2028. That trajectory suggests the industry could sustain record revenue and earnings through 2028, rather than slipping into the kind of downturn that has followed previous memory booms.The debate matters because memory has become one of the tightest links in the AI supply chain. HBM is stacked alongside AI processors to feed them data at high speed, which makes it central to the build-out of AI data centres, and its pricing power has been a major driver of earnings across the sector. The gap between TrendForce’s and BofA’s assumptions shows how much uncertainty remains about how long that pricing power lasts.TrendForce is a Taipei-based market intelligence firm that tracks the global technology supply chain, with a particular focus on semiconductors, memory and displays. Its DRAMeXchange division is one of the most widely cited sources for DRAM and NAND contract and spot pricing. This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.