It seems like memory manufacturers’ nightmare is going to continue for the time being, with analysts predicting another price drop of around 15% in DRAM prices. The trade dispute between the US and China is expected to further exuberate the issues, and the Huawei blacklisting is going to be at the heart of it. As per DigiTimes, prices for 8Gb chips will fall below US$3 in the coming months.
DRAMeXchange predicts a worse-than-expected decline in DRAM ASPs in the last quarter of 2019, by almost 10-15%, in contrast to the previous forecast of 2-5%.
As ripples from the US
DRAMeXchangeban continue to spread, Huawei’s shipments of smartphone and server products are feared to face heavy obstacles for the next two to three quarters. The impact on DRAM prices for the second half of 2019 will be substantial despite the period being the traditional peak season.
The DRAM market has been down in the dumps for almost a year now, courtesy of inventory excess and miscalculation in memory demand, especially in the Data Center market. Micron, TSMC, SK Hynix and Samsung have been feeling the heat these past six months, and the later was de-throned by Intel after being the largest semiconductor manufacturer for more than two decades.
The trade war has affected not only the memory market but the server and the hardware industry as a whole. MSI and some Taiwan based companies have decided to shift production back home to avoid the taxes while the US-headquartered firms have been forced to cut ties with Huawei.
DRAMeXchange expects the situation to improve in 2020, if all goes well that is.
Read more:
NVIDIA GeForce RTX Super Specs Allegedly Leak Out, Launching in June