Advertisment

Contract quotes for DRAM chips to continue uptrend

author-image
CIOL Bureau
Updated On
New Update

TAIPEI, TAIWAN: Contract quotes for DRAM chips will keep going up in November 2009, Pai Pei-Lin, vice-president of the Taiwan-based Nanya Technology Corporation, has said. Pai Pei-Lin told reporters that he also foresees a shortage of memory chips in 2010 since the demand for PC replacement would be outpacing expansion in capacity.

Advertisment

Since August 2009, contract prices for mainstream DDR2 chips have been increasing – showing a growth of 20 per cent month-on-month. The price rally for DDR2, according to Pai, is likely to persist in the next 2 months. However, the prices for DDR3 appear more optimistic 2 months later, he added.

It is expected that major vendors will adopt DDR3 for about 50 per cent of their memory needs (for both personal computers and servers) in the first quarter of 2010.

Also, the vendors are not likely to change back their preference to DDR2 parts owing to concerns over supply or pricing. Pai Pei-Lin, who is also the spokesman for Nanya Technology Corporation, said that the Microsoft Windows 7 is expected to trigger “a PC upgrade cycle” - something which has been delayed for about 3 years because of “widespread disappointment” with the Microsoft Windows Vista.

He told reporters that the DRAM industry is likely to undergo a turnaround in 2010, or even come close to the previous peak witnessed in 1995. Chip supply might fall short of demand in 2010 as a result of limited addition in capacity. Pai Pei-Lin Pai said the total capital expenditure for the DRAM industry is estimated to drop by as much as 59 per cent in 2009, after a 49 per cent decline in 2008.

semicon