Nanya Technology Corp, the nation¡¯s biggest computer memory chipmaker, yesterday said it has hiked prices by 3 to 5 percent this month from last month as oversupply subsided, signaling that the price uptrend would continue.
Prices have been on a rebound since January after slumping in the third and fourth quarters, Nanya Technology said.
¡°We are seeing improvement in the supply-and-demand situation,¡± company spokesman Pai Pei-lin said by telephone.
Nanya supplies memory chips to the world¡¯s biggest PC makers, including Dell Inc, HP and Acer Inc.
That did not take into consideration demand from a recent buying spree by PC makers intended to boost inventories out of fear of supply disruptions of key components including PC memory chips and dynamic random access (DRAM) in the aftermath of powerful -earthquake, tsunami and -subsequent power shortage in Japan.
¡°Demand from our customers did not reflect the [supply] concern as they still have inventories,¡± Pai said. ¡°Demand [from the reconstruction and inventory restocking] will surface in the next six months, which is new and was not seen in the past [cycles].¡±
According to Taipei-based TrendForce Corp¡¯s survey, contract DRAM prices rose more than 3 percent in the second half of this month from two weeks ago amid growing worries about supply constraints because of a shortage of components or raw materials.
¡°PC makers are becoming more aggressive in boosting inventories to hedge supply risk as they have to make sure of stable shipments to catch back-to-school business in the US and Europe,¡± TrendForce said in a report yesterday.
Rising demand would help drive up contract prices next month, the researcher said.
The benchmark DRAM contract price, which is set biweekly, rose to US$17 a unit in the second half of this month, compared with US$16.50 a unit in the first half, TrendForce said.
Global capacity of silicon wafer is expected to fall as much as 25 percent after major suppliers in Japan suspended production in quake-affected areas after the quake hit Japan on March 11.
