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The average selling price of DRAM continues to decline due to market oversupply. However, manufacturers are reallocating production capacity from PC DRAM – which has experienced the greatest price decline – to server DRAM and mobile DRAM as the latter two application markets are seeing more stable prices and higher margins. This strategy, along with continuing bit supply growth, prevented the global DRAM industry from suffering a significant revenue loss in the third quarter.
With the peak period for smartphone shipments arriving, Apple’s iPhone 6s and a host of latest flagship devices from other branded vendors have been made available on the market. Global research firm TrendForce estimates that around 345.9 million smartphones will be shipped this fourth quarter, up 3.7% from the third quarter.
The latest DRAM price report from DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, finds that the average contract price of DDR3 4GB modules fell by 10% from US$18.5 in September to US$16.75 in October. The lowest contract price in the market is currently at US$16.5. Both monthly and quarterly contract prices dropped as the outlook of the notebook market has become more conservative after the peak season.
Western Digital (WD), a major manufacturer of traditional hard disks, announced on October 21 that it will acquire SanDisk, a leading NAND Flash storage solution provider, for a total of US$19 billion. This acquisition, which is set to complete before of the end of next year’s third quarter, is considered the largest of such deals in the Flash storage industry during recent years.
Intel announced on October 20 that it will convert its fab in Dalian, China, from making processor chips on the 65nm process to making 3D-NAND Flash chips, which is currently the most advanced memory chip product. Intel also stated that it will invest up to US$5.5 billion in this project and work with the local government in its implementation. The Dalian fab is scheduled to begin producing memory chips in the second half of 2016.
