Despite the recent adjustments of product mix by suppliers, the supply of server DRAM remained tight in 1Q18, thus resulting in high average selling prices. Consequently, the total revenue of the three major server DRAM suppliers rose by 10.3% sequentially in 1Q18 to US$6.975 billion, according to DRAMeXchange, a research division of TrendForce.
DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, reports that the global DRAM revenue for 1Q18 rose by 5.4% QoQ to a new record high. Prices of graphics DRAM products rose significantly by 15% QoQ in 1Q18, given the relatively low base and the surge of demand from the cryptocurrency mining market. Prices of DRAM products for other application markets also increased by 3-6% QoQ.
Market research firm TrendForce reports that the global tablet shipments for 1Q18 recorded only 31.29 million units, a steep quarterly decline of 35.0% due to the traditional off season. When it comes to the second quarter, the tablet shipments are expected to grow by 11.4% quarterly driven by the education market. The year-on-year shipments growth may return to a positive figure of 1.5% in 2Q18.
The prices of high-power LED products in the Chinese market remained stable, while mid-power 3030 LED package products saw slight price drop in April 2018, says LEDinside, a division of TrendForce.
The more working days in 2Q18 have brought higher demand for smartphones and notebooks, etc., but the increasing demand cannot offset the high supply resulting from improvements in 3D NAND Flash production capacity and yield rate, says DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce. Consequently, the suppliers, who face higher inventory levels, have to further adjust the eMMC/UFS prices downward.