The Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) plummeted 6.42% during intraday trading on Friday, reflecting severe pressure on the global memory and storage chip sector.

The sharp decline was driven by multiple converging headwinds. A broad sector selloff saw core ETF holdings, including Micron Technology, Western Digital, and SanDisk, experience significant losses in prior sessions, with the Korean KOSPI index even triggering a circuit breaker. Sentiment was further damaged by news that Korean prosecutors raided offices of memory interface companies, including Montage Technology, Renesas, and Rambus, to investigate alleged price collusion. Additionally, a major brokerage downgraded its expectations for Q3 DRAM price increases, citing strong customer resistance to proposed hikes, while concerns over excessive valuations for AI-related memory chips prompted widespread profit-taking.

Compounding these sector-specific issues, a breakthrough in disruptive memory technology raised fears about the long-term competitiveness of traditional DRAM. Researchers at Fudan University achieved a milestone in room-temperature single-electron non-volatile quantum memory, a potential leapfrog technology that could drastically reduce power consumption. The team's plans to commercialize the technology through a startup heightened investor concerns about rapid technological obsolescence for the memory chip companies tracked by the ETF.