Looking at global mobile DRAM revenue in the second quarter, the Korean suppliers remain in the lead in terms of capacity and process technology, and their combined revenue represents 77.5% of the industry total. As the market oligopoly has been established, the mobile DRAM revenue ranking for the first quarter was similar to that of the previous quarter. The mobile memory market is not expected to see major changes until after the merger between Micron and Elpida is complete in the second half of the year...
DRAM spot price was strong in the first quarter; average DDR3 4GB contract price increased nearly 36%, from US$17.25 to US$23.5, while 2GB module price rose an average of almost 44%. From the market perspective, as top tier DRAM makers continue to shift production to mobile and server memory, commodity DRAM is forecast to account for 32% of total DRAM output this year, down from 44% in the fourth quarter of 2012. Beginning in the second quarter of 2013, mobile DRAM will replace commodity DRAM as the product category with the greatest share of the memory market...
After the Chinese New Year holiday, NAND flash market related vendors anticipate seasonality will result in a sluggish market starting from late 1Q13 . Although vendors are temporarily pulling back on capacity expansion plans to slow bit supply growth, NAND flash prices remain on a slight downtrend. As new smartphone, tablet, and ultrabook models hit the market and spur restocking demand in the second half of the year, NAND flash prices may have a chance to recover in the third quarter...
With top-tier DRAM makers lowering commodity DRAM output to turn to more profitable mobile and server DRAM products, in addition to strong MID demand in China, commodity DRAM spot prices increased in the fourth quarter. DDR3 1600Mhz 2Gb chip price rose from US$0.82 to US$1.05, an increase of nearly 30%. Prior to the Chinese New Year holiday, strong restocking demand resulted in 2Gb price approaching US$1.30, a surge of almost 60% since prices began rising last year...
Currently, NAND flash suppliers are conservative on market demand and capex figures for 2013, relying instead on technology migration to increase bit output, strengthening cost competitiveness to reduce losses due to price decline. TrendForce forecasts NAND flash market bit supply will increase from 14,858 M 16Gb equiv. in 2012 to 20,960 M 16Gb equiv. in 2013, a 41.1% YoY increase...
Looking at the global mobile DRAM market in the third quarter of 2012, with the decline of the PC industry, global DRAM industry revenue fell by 8.5% in the third quarter of 2012. Regardless, top-tier memory makers continue expanding in the mobile DRAM sector, and mobile DRAM output is expected to account for 21% of total DRAM production this year, and 26% in 2013. As for price, the mobile DRAM contract price decline eased to a 5% drop this quarter, a significant improvement over the average decrease of 10-15% in the first half of the year. As mobile DRAM output continues to increase, revenue has seen 15.4% growth since the previous quarter...
Apple and Samsung products continue to dominate the high-end market. Together, the manufacturers’ devices are expected to account for 50% of global smartphone shipments, at 330M units, in 2012. Apple’s iPhone has yet to fail since its introduction years ago, continuing to dominate the smartphone industry in terms of both brand image and profit margins. Samsung’s smartphone supply chain is vertically integrated, from the core SoC to other components like memory, display, and battery. Not only does vertical integration give Samsung a cost advantage when it comes to smartphone production, but it also provides an outlet for Samsung Semiconductor components...
Affected by global economic instability, many NAND flash suppliers are adopting a conservative outlook towards the NAND flash market in 2H12; NAND flash manufacturers’ 2012 bit output growth comes mainly from process technology migration. Recently, several NAND flash makers have either temporarily reduced capacity utilization rate and suspended or slowed original capacity expansion plans for 2H12, or reallocated NAND flash production lines to the manufacture of other IC products. Slowed 2H12 bit growth and reduced capex figures will help close the NAND flash market supply-demand gap in 2H12...
As a result of strong smartphone shipments worldwide and the rise of tablet PCs, mobile DRAM demand grew significantly in 2Q12. While mobile DRAM contract price fell by approximately 10% in 1Q12, total mobile DRAM revenue unexpectedly climbed 12.4%. As for 2Q market share, Samsung remained in the lead with nearly 60% of the global mobile memory market, putting the Korean manufacturers’ combined market share at 77.5%, a 1.1% QoQ decrease. Third-place maker Elpida’s market share fell by 0.8% QoQ to 13.9%, while Micron, benefitting from low to mid-end smartphone growth, came in fourth as its market share climbed to 6.7%...
Affected by the uncertainty of global economic recovery, NAND flash suppliers are conservative towards the 1H12 market. Therefore, suppliers’ bit growth comes mainly from process technology migration in 2012. Reducing the supply and demand gap and strengthening cost competitiveness will lower the impact of price decline to profitability, and makers will continue phasing out 200mm wafer equipment in 2012...