Computer memory chipmakers are facing growing price pressure this month as a result of persistent weak demand on a supply glut, bucking the traditional uptrend on seasonal demand, Taipei-based market researcher DRAMeXchange Technology Inc (集邦科技) said on Tuesday.
This month's contract price shrank 20 percent from two weeks ago following sagging demand in China during its National Day holiday as well as elsewhere, which has dealt a blow to the spot price, DRAMeXchange said in a report.
The price of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) has plunged more than 77 percent, it said.
"The current market oversupply has been an impediment for sustainable price increases," DRAMeXchange said.
While inventory has risen significantly, sales have also decreased, it said.
On top of that, DRAM makers have a disadvantage in negotiating contract prices during the second half of the year, as most computer makers tend to clear out inventory ahead of the peak earnings season, DRAMeXchange said.
Although some major DRAM makers said that they would stop supplying chips to the spot market, DRAMeXchange expected the move would do little to combat weak prices.
Japan's Elpida Memory Inc and Korea's Hynix Semiconductor Inc said earlier this month that they would lower the volume of sales or stop sales of chips to the spot market.
The price decline defies conventional price patterns, as DRAM sales are usually strong in October as a result of increased computer shipments ahead of the Christmas shopping season, DRAMeXchange said.
Last October, the spot price jumped sharply, it said.
Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (
Powerchip expects demand to recover in the third quarter, pinning its hopes on a rebound in demand for Vista-enabled PCs with bigger memory space.
However, revenues only inched up 3.8 percent to NT$17.92 billion in the third quarter, from NT$17.26 billion in the slack second quarter.
Looking forward, Powerchip spokesman Eric Tan (
The price of DDR2 512Mb 667MHz closed down 4.1 percent on Tuesday at US$1.39. The price was US$1.45 on Oct. 1. DDR2 512Mb before testing declined 11.4 percent to US$1.09 during the same period, DRAMeXchange said.
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) suffered its biggest stock decline in more than a month after the company unveiled new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, but did not provide hoped-for information on customers or financial performance. The stock slid 4 percent to US$164.18 on Thursday, the biggest single-day drop since Sept. 3. Shares of the company remain up 11 percent this year. AMD has emerged as the biggest contender to Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market of AI processors. The company’s latest chips would exceed some capabilities of its rival, AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said at an event hosted by
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
RSS