Early November 2012 DRAM Prices Decline, Flash Stabilizes

By Wolfgang Gruener
published

DRAM is beginning the week with another decline and no signs of price stabilization.

Last week's low of a spot price of $1.75 for a 4 Gb DDR3 1600 MHz chip was undercut on Monday with a session low of $1.62. The average price on Monday was $2.163. Pricing for 2 Gb and 1 Gb chips remained stable.

As DRAM prices continue to slide, we are expecting the market to react accordingly and PC vendors to take advantage of this environment. DRAM modules should show continued price drops throughout this quarter as well as Q1 2013.

DRAM makers may be treading water, but it appears that the NAND Flash market is recovering. Market research firm TrendForce said that the average selling price (ASP) of NAND Flash in Q3 declined by 3 percent sequentially, but shipment volume rose by 10 percent in the same time frame. The total NAND flash brand manufacturer revenue climbed to $4.63 billion, up 6.6 percent from Q2.

Samsung currently holds 39 percent of the market, followed by Toshiba with 26 percent, Micron with 14 percent Hynix with 12 percent and Intel with 9 percent.

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Wolfgang Gruener
11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • anxiousinfusion
    A part of me was hoping it would continue to tank so that manufacturers would push for DDR4.
    Reply
  • digiex
    DRAM are so dirt cheap that they look like combs.
    Reply
  • blazorthon
    anxiousinfusionA part of me was hoping it would continue to tank so that manufacturers would push for DDR4.
    We need devices that can use DDR4 before DDR4 can be sold much.
    Reply
  • Soon... DDR3 prices are becoming so cheap that a 16GB (8gb x2 kit) will be the new 4gb.
    Reply
  • atikkur
    cheap always a good thing.. so everyone doesnt need win8 ,, just add more ram :)
    Reply
  • MystK
    Where can I find 4GB of 1600MHz RAM for $1.62!?
    Reply
  • blazorthon
    MystKWhere can I find 4GB of 1600MHz RAM for $1.62!?
    Where did you read that you can? The article clearly states 4Gb (equal to 512MB), not 4GB, and that it's for the individual chips, not the rest of the module.
    Reply
  • pjmelect
    DDR and DDR2 memory cost a arm and a leg, I would have thought that it would be more profitable to stop producing DDR3 memory and produce the older memory. The volumes may be a lot smaller but the profit margin would be enormous.
    Reply
  • blazorthon
    pjmelectDDR and DDR2 memory cost a arm and a leg, I would have thought that it would be more profitable to stop producing DDR3 memory and produce the older memory. The volumes may be a lot smaller but the profit margin would be enormous.
    I can't imagine them selling much. How many new computers or other such devices use older memory except for mobile phones/tablets/similar devices that use low power versions of DDR and DDR2? I'd think that if there was ample demand, memory companies might produce more DDR2 memory, but that they don't because there simply isn't enough demand for it.
    Reply
  • jazz84
    pjmelectDDR and DDR2 memory cost a arm and a leg, I would have thought that it would be more profitable to stop producing DDR3 memory and produce the older memory. The volumes may be a lot smaller but the profit margin would be enormous.
    Unless I'm mistaken (and that is ALWAYS a possibility), I'm pretty sure that the DDR3 chips are produced on a smaller manufacturing node than DDR2. The switch from producing DDR2 to DDR3 would likely involve some re-tooling at the chip manufacturing stage, and going back would likely be unjustifiably expensive.
    Reply