Memory Price Drop Appears to Be Nearing an End
Memory semiconductor prices are gradually moving towards a stable path. NAND flash prices have posted the biggest jump since March 2017, and DRAM prices are falling more slowly.
As a growing number of market watchers believe that memory prices have hit bottom, expectations are growing that Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will show a better performance.
According to DRAMeXchange, a market research firm, the average contract price of 128 Gb multi-level cell (MLC) products, which are general-purpose flagships of NAND flashes used in solid-state drives (SSDs) and USB drives, stood at US$4.31 in October, up 4.87 percent from one month earlier. NAND prices bounced back in July and August in a row and then held back for a while in September before rising again.
The price gains in October were the highest since March 2017 when NAND prices rose 13.87 percent amid a super boom in the memory market. NAND prices peaked at the end of August 2017.
DRAM prices, which stayed steady over the previous two months, are on a downturn again. The contract price of DDR4 8 Gb DRAM products, which are general-purpose modules for personal computers, stood at US$2.81 on average, down 4.42 percent from the previous month. Yet the decline considerably narrowed compared to the end of July (11.18 percent) and the end of June (11.73 percent)..
Industry watchers remain more cautious than optimistic about the memory market in the months to come as there are still uncertainties in the market, including the likelihood of a global recession stemming from the U.S.-China trade war. However, demand for memory chips is expected to increase next year when the era of 5G mobile services will open.