Demand for smartphones, tablets drives mobile memory mkt

SAN FRANCISCO, USA: According to market research firm, IHS iSuppli, the market for memory chips is expected to grow a modest 6 per cent this year to reach $14.9 billion. The growth has been attributed to the healthy growth in the markets for smartphones and tablets. The firm predicts that, by 2015, mobile memory revenue will peak at $17.9 billion.

"The mobile space has been the engine for overall memory growth in the last few years, and it continues to shape and define the success of suppliers participating in the memory market. Given the ongoing passion of consumers for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, the outlook for mobile memory remains exceedingly optimistic,'' said Michael Yang, senior principal analyst for memory and storage at IHS.

This forecast by IHS has considered the flash memory segments of NAND and NOR, the NAND sub-segment of embedded multimedia card (eMMC), as well the mobile dynamic random access memory (DRAM) sector.

As per IHS’s projections, mobile NAND flash revenue could reach $10.5 billion (14 per cent growth) this year compared to 2011 and the mobile NAND flash revenue this year will be 50 per cent of the entire NAND market of $21 billion.

Android based smartphones have primarily driven the growth of NAND flash consumption. Android handsets are projected to consume approximately 54 per cent share of overall flash memory usage in the smartphone space, compared to 18 per cent for the iPhone, IHS explained.

As per IHS, the segment of mobile NAND is projected to account for $3.7 billion, up from $2.8 billion in 2011. eMMC has become a viable mobile memory solution for high-end markets like smartphones and tablets. The future of mobile DRAM looks bright, as it is projected to account for more than 32 per cent of all DRAM bits shipped in 2015, up from a 6.2 per cent share in 2009, IHS said.