The price of DRAM chips is expected to fall at a steeper rate of 13 to 18 percent next quarter, as high inflation continues to weigh on demand for consumer electronics, causing chip inventories to soar, market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday.
The downtrend in DRAM prices could extend from a quarterly decline of 10 to 15 percent in the third quarter, the Taipei-based researcher said.
“Demand for consumer electronics continued to stagnate during the third quarter, which used to be a high demand season,” TrendForce said in a statement.
Photo: Reuters
“During the quarter, memorychip consumption and shipments both showed quarterly declines,” it said.
“As demand for memory chips slumped significantly, consumer electronics suppliers have been hesitant to place new orders. As such, chip suppliers are under mounting pressure to offload excessive inventory,” it said.
To sell more chips and to protect their market shares, some memorychip makers switched to a soft stance by consolidating price negotiations for the third and fourth quarters, or negotiating quantity before quoting prices, TrendForce said.
Chipmakers usually negotiate prices on a quarterly basis.
Prices of DRAM chips used in notebook computers are expected to drop 10 to 15 percent next quarter from the previous quarter as most suppliers refused to cut production, despite sluggish demand, the researcher said.
That is because DRAM chip makers still enjoy good profit margins, it said.
Prices of server DRAM chips are expected to tumble 13 to 18 percent next quarter, attributable to a delay in launches of new processors, TrendForce said.
Intel Corp is reportedly to postpone the launch of its new Intel 7-based server processors, dubbed Sapphire Rapids, to February or March next year.
Demand for server DRAM semiconductors has been sluggish as customers consume fewer chips, which has caused inventory to climb to nine to 12 weeks, surpassing normal levels of six to eight weeks, the researcher said.
Demand from server makers and cloud service providers in China and the US all stagnated, it said.
Mobile DRAM chip prices are expected to slide 13 to 18 percent next quarter, TrendForce said.
The decline could accelerate further, given that mobile phone vendors continued to cut sales forecasts amid a gloomy outlook, it said.
Excessive inventory at the level of seven to nine weeks also crimped chip demand, it added.
Facing similar issues of slowing demand and mounting inventory, memorychip makers are expected to experience quarterly price declines of 10 to 15 percent for graphics DRAM and consumer electronics DRAM chips, TrendForce said.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure