Semiconductor Manufacturing Facilities Halted
A 6.7-magnitude earthquake occurred off the northeastern coast of Taiwan on Dec. 10 to halt the operation of some semiconductor manufacturing facilities. Earlier this month, Micron Technology’s facilities in Taiwan had to be halted due to power outage. DRAM chip prices and the like are likely to rebound under the circumstances.
The earthquake is affecting DRAM manufacturer Nanya, the world’s largest foundry TSMC, etc. Although local news outlets have reported that there is no damage, a production setback is inevitable according to those in the industry.
Market research firm DRAMeXchange recently reported that the spot price of DDR4 8Gb 2400Mbps began to rebound early this month after a 10-week decline. Specifically, the average spot price was US$2.983 in the morning of Dec. 10 and increased 7.7 percent in nine days.
According to industry sources, the earthquake and power outage in Taiwan are likely to cause clients to increase their inventories to avoid a supply shortage. In Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, chips in stock are equivalent to two weeks or so, which is lower than a normal level.