DRAMeXchange Doesn't Expect Coronavirus to Impact Memory Supplies

People around the world are living in fear of the Coronavirus outbreak that started in Wuhan, China a few weeks ago. But the memory market probably doesn't have anything to worry about, at least according to research firm DRAMeXchange, which today said that the epidemic isn't expected to affect NAND or DRAM supply in the immediate future.

Tech companies were quick to respond to concerns over the Coronavirus outbreak. Several companies, including Facebook, Razer and LG, restricted employee travel to China; the Chinese government also ordered Samsung and Foxconn to close their factories. Fears that the virus could negatively affect the tech industry seemed reasonable.

However, DRAMeXchange said that memory companies don't have anything to fear because their fabs have remained operational despite the Coronavirus outbreak. In some cases that's because of strict monitoring policies for workers entering the factories, but in others it's because the companies aren't particularly close to Wuhan.

"In terms of DRAM suppliers, of the three major suppliers, only SK Hynix’s production base in Wuxi is located in China, but since it is far away from Wuhan it has not been directly impacted by the outbreak," DRAMExchange said in a press release today.

"Also, during the Chinese New Year, the shifts of most fab employees have already been scheduled, so the production line remains operational. Overall, there is currently no substantial impact on DRAM production, but it is still imperative to monitor whether the potential spreading of the virus can affect China’s logistics and transportation system, subsequently causing a nationwide material shortage."

NAND suppliers seem to have a bit more to worry about. DRAMeXchange said that YMTC and XMC might not be able to stay operational with the quarantine but added that shouldn't be too big of a deal because "the current capacity of YMTC’s Wuhan fab accounts for only around 1% of wafer input of the entire NAND flash industry."