According to the latest report of DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, the global server shipment experienced slight decline in 1Q18, but the demand for CPU, Server DRAM, and other related components remain flat. The demand for server will see obvious recovery in 2Q18, and global server shipment will grow by nearly 10% compared with 1Q18. For 1H18, Dell EMC, HPE, and Inspur will be the top three server suppliers with shipment market shares of 16.6%, 15%, and 7.2% respectively.
According to DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, China has entered the semiconductor sector and focused on the development of domestic memory industry. The three key players are YMTC, Innotron (Hefei Chang Xin) and JHICC, which work on NAND Flash, mobile DRAM and specialty DRAM respectively. All three companies have arranged trial production to begin in 2H18 and mass production to begin in 1H19. This will make 2019 the first year of China’s domestic memory chip production.
The NAND Flash market has witnessed a slight oversupply in 1Q18. The growth momentum remains weak in 2Q18 although the demand increases, according to DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce. It is expected that the slight oversupply in NAND Flash market will remain and the prices will continue to decline.
The average and the highest contract price of mainstream DDR4 4GB modules are still at US$33 and US$34 respectively in March, according to DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce. On the whole, contract prices of PC DRAM have seen an average increase of around 5% in 1Q18 compared with 4Q17. Nitrogen supply issue at Micron Memory Taiwan may prolong current tight supply in DRAM market, and is expected to push up contract prices of PC DRAM by 3% in 2Q18 compared with 1Q18.
The sales of iPhone X turned out to be less than market expectation, so Samsung has lowered the utilization rate of OLED production lines. The tight supply of OLED panels over the past two years has also been eased. According to WitsView, a division of TrendForce, Apple has initiated the trend of OLED panels, and it is estimated that the penetration rate of OLED panel in smartphones will reach 46% by 2021. Mini LED is overwhelmed by OLED’s technology maturity and competitive costs, so it might be hard for Mini LED to grow in the smartphone market in short term.