Amid production cuts by major companies and inventory liquidations, NAND flash memory prices are beginning to recover, followed by DRAM prices, analysts report TrendForce citing data from the Taiwanese publication TechNews.
Image source: samsung.com
To reduce losses, NAND flash memory suppliers have repeatedly reported production cuts in 2023 – a measure intended to stop further price declines and set a trend for their growth. This strategy is already showing initial success: in August there were increasing reports of an increase in contract prices for NAND memory wafers, and in September prices continued to rise, putting the DRAM segment in a catch-up position.
Samsung, as the leading provider, further reduced production – this particularly affected products based on chips with fewer than 128 layers. In September alone, production was reduced by almost 50%, prompting other manufacturers to follow suit and also leading to an adjustment in inventories. NAND memory prices will continue to rise in the fourth quarter, experts say. According to TrendForce, growth in the last three months of 2023 will be 3-8%, although 0-5% was originally planned.
Price momentum in the DRAM segment lags that of NAND, but the strategy to reduce production and clear inventories in the fourth quarter will help turn the tide. An additional positive factor is likely to be the market for artificial intelligence systems, where demand remains high. There is also high demand in the DDR5 and DDR3 segment, although the major providers have gradually turned away from the latter. The most widespread is DDR4 – stocks are being actively liquidated here, but this process is threatened by the upcoming family of Intel Meteor Lake processors, which only support DDR5.
Add Comment