The contract prices of DRAM chips are to rise by as much as 18 percent sequentially this quarter — the first price upticks in about eight quarters — driven mainly by inventory rebuilding demand for DRAM chips used in mobile devices and PCs, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) projected yesterday.
The price rebound is led by a quarterly increase of mobile DRAM chips, which are to climb between 13 percent and 18 percent quarter-on-quarter this quarter, which has not been seen since the fourth quarter of 2021, the Taipei-based market researcher predicted.
Likewise, the price of mainstream PC DDR4 DRAM is expected to bounce back for the first time in about two years at a quarterly pace of 9.6 percent this quarter, the researcher said, adding that the prices have plummeted 64 percent since the final quarter of 2021.
Photo: Bloomberg / Seong-Joon Cho
As the pickup remains lukewarm, TrendForce expects DRAM chipmakers to see scant growth in shipments this quarter. Additionally, the researcher has a conservative outlook for server DRAM chips, given that inventory continues to hover at a high level.
As a result, Samsung Electronics Co — the world’s largest memorychip maker — is to accelerate its capacity reduction this quarter by slashing mainstream DDR4 chip production by 30 percent to alleviate inventory pressure, TrendForce said.
Last quarter, the world’s major DRAM chipmakers saw their revenue increase 18 percent sequentially to total US$13.48 billion, benefiting from a gradual improvement in demand during the second half of this year, TrendForce said in a report yesterday.
Samsung registered 15.9 percent quarterly growth in revenue to US$5.25 billion, as the South Korean memorychip maker started cranking out its first new-generation 1-alpha-nanometer DDR5 chips, which delivered a price premium, the report said.
SK Hynix Inc, the world’s second-largest memorychip maker, enjoyed the strongest revenue growth of 34.4 percent sequentially to US$4.63 billion, supported by robust demand for high-bandwidth memory and DDR5 chips, which were mostly used in artificial-intelligence servers, the report said. SK Hynix has seen shipments rise for a third consecutive quarter beginning last quarter, with memorychip prices jumping 10 percent quarterly, it said.
US memorychip maker Micron Technology Inc reported a 4.2-percent growth in revenue to US$3.08 billion last quarter, attributable to shipment expansion, while it saw a mild decline in average selling price last quarter from the previous quarter.
Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) saw revenue grow 10 percent quarterly last quarter to about US$244 million, thanks to shipment increases at a quarterly rate between 17 and 19 percent due to improving PC DRAM demand. However, demand for its major DDR3 and DDR4 products remained sluggish last quarter, as prices for these chips extended in a downward trend from the previous quarters.
Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電) and Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) saw their DRAM revenue sequentially rise 13 percent and 4.4 percent respectively last quarter, TrendForce said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said its materials management head, Vanessa Lee (李文如), had tendered her resignation for personal reasons. The personnel adjustment takes effect tomorrow, TSMC said in a statement. The latest development came one month after Lee reportedly took leave from the middle of last month. Cliff Hou (侯永清), senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer, is to concurrently take on the role of head of the materials management division, which has been under his supervision, TSMC said. Lee, who joined TSMC in 2022, was appointed senior director of materials management and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Thursday met with US President Donald Trump at the White House, days before a planned trip to China by the head of the world’s most valuable chipmaker, people familiar with the matter said. Details of what the two men discussed were not immediately available, and the people familiar with the meeting declined to elaborate on the agenda. Spokespeople for the White House had no immediate comment. Nvidia declined to comment. Nvidia’s CEO has been vocal about the need for US companies to access the world’s largest semiconductor market and is a frequent visitor to China.
Hypermarket chain Carrefour Taiwan and upscale supermarket chain Mia C’bon on Saturday announced the suspension of their partnership with Jkopay Co (街口支付), one of Taiwan’s largest digital payment providers, amid a lawsuit involving its parent company. Carrefour and Mia C’bon said they would notify customers once Jkopay services are reinstated. The two retailers joined an array of other firms in suspending their partnerships with Jkopay. On Friday night, popular beverage chain TP Tea (茶湯會) also suspended its use of the platform, urging customers to opt for alternative payment methods. Another drinks brand, Guiji (龜記), on Friday said that it is up to individual
STABLE RESULTS: Despite June’s lower consolidated revenue, second-quarter sales still reached a record high, driven by demand for chips for AI applications Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported consolidated sales of NT$263.71 billion (US$9.02 billion) for last month, its second-lowest monthly result this year. The world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement that its revenue last month only fared better than the NT$260.01 billion posted in February. Last month’s figure rose 26.9 percent from a year earlier, but slumped 17.7 percent from May, the company said. However, second-quarter revenue reached NT$933.8 billion, a record high for a single quarter, company data showed. The figure represented growth of 11.26 percent from the first quarter and 38.6 percent from a year earlier. Previously, TSMC said that
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