Total Flash Memory Market Eclipses DRAM for First Time in 2012

By Wolfgang Gruener
published

The flash memory market volume is expected to exceed DRAM revenue for the first time this year.

According to IC Insights, the total NAND and NOR flash memory market is predicted to gain 2 percent to $30.4 billion in 2012. DRAM is estimated to reach $28.0 billion this year.

Flash will widen its lead over DRAM until 2017 and NANF Flash alone will outpace DRAM in 2013, IC Insights said. The market research firm said that flash will show the second highest growth rates among semiconductors and only trail the market growth rates for tablet processors and cell phone application processors.

Average revenue growth is forecast to hit 14 percent between 2012 and 2017 and reach $53.2 billion by 2017. DRAM sales will only grow by 9 percent annually during that time, IC Insights said.

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Wolfgang Gruener
19 Comments Comment from the forums
  • chewy1963
    That's like saying HDD's outsell DRAM... Flash and DRAM has two different purposes so what is the point of this article?
    Reply
  • memadmax
    Flash is SUPPOSED to outsell DRAM >_>

    Flash is SUPPOSED to supplant HDD's not DRAM...

    The writer of this article is a numbskull...
    Reply
  • fearless1333
    chewy1963That's like saying HDD's outsell DRAM... Flash and DRAM has two different purposes so what is the point of this article?memadmaxFlash is SUPPOSED to outsell DRAM >_>Flash is SUPPOSED to supplant HDD's not DRAM...The writer of this article is a numbskull...
    The point of this article is to highlight the growing practicality and technology of Flash memory. SSDs continue to grow in popularity with prices under $1/gb in 2012... Flash is also being considered as a possible nonvolatile alternative to DRAM for use as RAM.
    Reply
  • The thing is that de flash demand is growing faster than dram demand. That means that people want more storage space than speed.
    Reply
  • joytech22
    There is actual demand for flash memory compared to DRAM.
    RAM is in over-saturation at the moment, it's literally everywhere from TV's to set-top boxes, phones, computers, even fridges (some smart fridges) and cars.

    Flash is coming down in price fast enough to make it a high-demand thing, because not only is it fast, efficient etc it's also getting cheap.
    Reply
  • laststop311
    This information is actually a little surprising, because every single computer uses ram but not every computer uses ssd.
    Reply
  • 11796pcs
    NANF Flash alone will outpace DRAM in 2013
    I literally looked up NANF Flash before I realized it was a typo. Come on guys, it's not that hard to do a little proofreading.
    Reply
  • chewy1963
    laststop311This information is actually a little surprising, because every single computer uses ram but not every computer uses ssd.
    It's not really surprising because the avg system needs say 4 GB of ram (say $20) whereas an SSD on an average system has say 128 GB flash (say $100), so it follows that if SSD's are in about 1 in 5 machines or more, it would beat dram in sales. The same can be extended to tablets and phones. Talk to me when SSDs surpass HDDs in sales, THEN we'll be talking.

    fearless1333The point of this article is to highlight the growing practicality and technology of Flash memory. SSDs continue to grow in popularity with prices under $1/gb in 2012... Flash is also being considered as a possible nonvolatile alternative to DRAM for use as RAM.
    Flash memory is lightning fast compared to HDDs, however I wouldn't want to use it as a replacement to DRAM as system memory because it's more than an order of magnitude SLOWER than DRAM. As I said before, flash should be compared to HDDs NOT DRAM.
    Reply
  • fearless1333
    chewy1963It's not really surprising because the avg system needs say 4 GB of ram (say $20) whereas an SSD on an average system has say 128 GB flash (say $100), so it follows that if SSD's are in about 1 in 5 machines or more, it would beat dram in sales. The same can be extended to tablets and phones. Talk to me when SSDs surpass HDDs in sales, THEN we'll be talking.Flash memory is lightning fast compared to HDDs, however I wouldn't want to use it as a replacement to DRAM as system memory because it's more than an order of magnitude SLOWER than DRAM. As I said before, flash should be compared to HDDs NOT DRAM.
    Sorry I misspoke, not as a replacement. I was recalling a Toms article several months ago which detailed software that allowed flash memory to be used as an extension to DRAM.

    http://www.tomshardware.com/news/fusio-io-flash-ssdalloc-memory-ram,16352.html
    Reply
  • ojas
    Thank god this article didn't conclude in the death of the PC.
    Reply