Suffering from the European debt storm and American financial disputations, 3Q restocking demand recovery was postponed until early September. However, demand from the memory card & UFD channel market remained weak in July & August, except for stable OEM orders from certain smartphone & tablet PC customers. Additionally, many downstream customers still tried to lower excess inventory in July and August. NAND Flash price has stabilized since September, as the restocking demand for 4Q11 new product launches from some system product makers warmed up in early September.
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According to DRAMeXchange, a research division of TrendForce, DRAM contract price has decreased by 47% since May, but ceased falling in October mainly due to the combination of traditional peak season demand and less shipment pressure on makers with the start of Q4. Contract price stayed flat for 2HOct., with DDR3 2GB and 4GB average contract price at US$10.5 and US$19.5, respectively. Chip price remained at approximately US$1.06 for DDR3 2Gb.
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According to Trendforce, benefitting from strong smartphone and tablet PC shipments, the rise of ultrabook and server growth due to greater adoption of cloud computing, SSD penetration rate has increased rapidly. Furthermore, Intel’s new Ivy Bridge platform, to be introduced in 2012, will feature integrated USB 3.0 support. This move is sure to stimulate USB 3.0 flash drive sales, in turn helping the entire NAND flash industry maintain a high growth rate. Thus, Trendforce expects...
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Since demand did not warm for this year’s 2H peak season inventory replenishment until September, the renewed demand from both new smartphone and ultrabook models and preparation for the holiday season is likely to continue until early November. Thus, NAND flash average contract price for 1HOct. saw both slight increases and decreases, but should stay stable overall for the month of October due to continued support from year-end restocking demand.
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According to DRAMeXchange, a research division of TrendForce, benefitting from continual inventory replenishment for the holiday season as well as account balancing at the end of 3Q, DDR3 4GB contract price stayed flat in 1HOct. DDR3 2Gb contract price fell slightly, by US$0.25 to US$10.50. While concluded transaction volume was low, as it is the quarter’s beginning, DRAM manufacturers were not under pressure to ship, hence the price cut in exchange for shipment situation did not reoccur.
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According to DRAMeXchange, a research division of TrendForce, although most NAND flash related vendors are currently conservative towards European and American holiday season sales, inventory replenishment began in early September in preparation for certain system vendors’ unveiling of new smartphone and ultrabook models in October and November. Furthermore, some memory card vendors began restocking in mid-September for China’s October Golden Week Holiday. While a portion of suppliers adopted price cut strategies to counteract quarter-end effects, most suppliers kept prices flat.
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According to DRAMeXchange, a research division of TrendForce, due to an overall increase in spot market price since mid-September, ASP of DDR3 1333Mhz 2Gb chips rose from US$1.1 to US$1.2, a difference of approximately 9.1%. ASP of DDR3 2Gb eTT chips saw an even greater 17% increase, arriving at US$1.1.
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According to DRAMeXchange, a research division of TrendForce, as a portion of system product clients have begun inventory replenishment in preparation for 4Q11’s new products, mainstream MLC NAND flash contract price was more or less stable for 1HSep. Although memory card and UFD retail market demand was still relatively weak, price has ceased falling and stabilized.
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According to DRAMeXchange, a research division of TrendForce, the previously falling price trend showed signs of stabilizing in 1HSep. DDR3 2GB contract price stayed flat at an average US$10.75, while DDR3 4GB ASP fell slightly, by 4.65% to US$20.5 due to DRAM makers’ attempts to increase shipment volume. DDR3 2Gb chip price was approximately US$1.13.
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Ultrabooks are set to take the market by storm, gradually taking a piece of the traditional notebook market and providing new momentum for the entire IT industry. According to market research firm TrendForce, chip giant Intel is leading the ultrabook revolution in 2011, with the MacBook Air dominated, ultra thin and light notebook market as their goal. The birth of ultrabooks is expected to benefit many different industries, and will hopefully sweep away the clouds of tablet PC popularity and global economic factors currently looming over the PC industry.
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