DRAM (short for Dynamic Random Access Memory) may see a fall in pricing this fiscal. According to DRAMeXchange, a division of Trendforce, the contract prices for Server DRAM could decrease by 30% compared to Q1 2019. Previously, the estimated drop was about 20%.
The Reason
The main reason according to DRAMeXchange is oversupply and lack of demand for the products. The suppliers who were hit by this in Q1 will be affected even more in Q2 as the prices fall by 15% in Q2. This problem is expected to continue as long as the gap between supply and demand is narrowed. Manufacturers have already started thinking of countermeasures.
A look at DRAM Price trends
The prices of DRAM modules saw a peak in the first half of 2018. But due to the Chinese Government Investigation on memory chip suppliers, the prices started declining drastically. The datacenter owners are anticipating a further fall in prices, and thus are not investing in DRAMs as of now. As per the analysis, by the year-end, the prices may be 50% lower than the previous year.
Mobile sector looks good
However, DRAM demand in the mobile sector is expected to increase. As noted by DRAMeXchange, the production volume of smartphones is set to increase by 5-10% QoQ. This should boost the demand for DRAM in mobile devices.
You can check out the DRAMeXchange’s report here.
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