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[News] Micron Expects 4-6% Quarterly DRAM Supply Impact Post Taiwan Earthquake


2024-04-12 Semiconductors editor

Memory manufacturer Micron Technology stated on April 11 that the earthquake in Taiwan on April 3 has impacted its DRAM supply, estimated to be between 4-6% (mid-single digit percentage).

Micron emphasized in an 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the earthquake did not cause permanent damage to its facilities, infrastructure, or equipment, and will not have a long-term effect on DRAM supply.

Micron noted that as of now, DRAM production post-earthquake has not fully recovered, but progress in facility restoration is promising thanks to efforts by the Taiwan team.

In February this year, Micron announced the commencement of mass production of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, designed for use in NVIDIA’s H200 GPU for AI applications.

In March, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra indicated that the company’s HBM chips earmarked for AI applications are sold out for 2024, with much of the 2025 supply already allocated.

Micron previously described HBM chips as utilizing stacked DRAM technology. The company did not specify whether the HBM supply would be affected by the earthquake.

Per a previous TrendForce press release, the three major original HBM manufacturers held market shares as follows in 2023: SK Hynix and Samsung were both around 47.5%, while Micron stood at roughly 5%.

As per Micron’s previous report, regarding growth outlooks for various end markets in 2024, the annual growth rate for the data center industry has been revised upward from mid-single digits to mid-to-high single digits, while the PC industry’s annual growth rate remains at low to mid-single digits. AI PCs are expected to capture a certain market share in 2025. The annual growth rate for the mobile phone industry has been adjusted upward from modest growth to low to mid-single digits.

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(Photo credit: Micron)

Please note that this article cites information from Micron.