Computer memory chipmakers hiked contract prices by between 5 percent and 7 percent in the first half of this month as a strong recovery in PC demand exceeded supply, a Taipei-based market researcher said yesterday.
Makers of DRAM memory chips, could keep prices flat, or raise them by between 5 percent and 10 percent by the third quarter on the back of sustainable demand, DRAMeXchange Technology Inc (集邦科技) said in a report.
The researcher expected demand in the first two quarters of this year to increase further.
Supply constraint could extend into the first half of the year with output growth limited by technological migration and some memory chipmakers allocating more capacity to make memory chips used in mobile devices on strong demand, DRAMeXchange said.
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), the nation’s biggest DRAM maker, said earlier this week it intended to raise prices further this month to reflect supply constraint after hiking prices by 10 percent last month from February.
DRAMeXchange said there was a big decrease in supply on the spot market, which could help spot prices stabilize at around US$3 per unit.
Nanya ships 70 percent of its chips to PC makers such as Dell Inc on a contract basis, while local rival Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體) sells most of its products on the spot market.
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