The prices for next-generation computer memory chips, or DDR3, could rise by between 5 percent and 10 percent this month as chip demand rises significantly after PC makers’ aggressive launch of ultra-low-voltage (ULV) computers, DRAMeXchange Technology Inc (集邦科技) said yesterday.
The Taipei-based research house said chipmakers could step up DDR3 production as demand picks up, allowing DDR3 to account for 30 percent of total PC memory output by the end of the year, up from 10 percent in the first quarter.
Acer Inc (宏碁), the world’s No. 3 PC maker, expects its ULV notebook computers to make up half of its notebook shipments this year.
The Taiwanese company forecast ULV notebooks would make up 20 percent of the global laptop market next year.
Over the past two months, DDR3 memory chips have traded between US$1.50 and US$1.70 per unit, 50 percent higher than mainstream DDR2 chips, DRAMeXchange said in a report released yesterday.
In Taiwan, only Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), the nation’s No. 2 PC memory chipmaker, and Inotera Memories Inc (華亞科技), its joint venture with the US-based Micron Memory Inc, make DDR3 chips.
Their combined DDR3 output accounted for less than 10 percent of global production, the researcher said.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
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