Taiwan-based memory makers expect May revenues to drop to possibly near the low levels reached in February, according to industry sources.

However, module companies' gross margins for May are expected to stay above satisfactory levels supported by slight changes in NAND chip prices, said the sources.

Having fewer opportunities than Samsung, Micron and other NAND chip vendors to land orders from system OEMs, which are gearing up to vie for a piece of the smartphone and tablet PC pie, dedicated module makers are more focused on their own-brand operations through partnerships with local channel distributors, the sources said. However, with the market for USB flash drives and memory cards becoming too mature to further expand, the module players are diversifying their product mixes to sustain future growth.

Many memory module firms have put a greater emphasis on solid-state drives (SSD) and USB 3.0 storage devices, which have the potential to grow significantly. Some have also launched non-memory product lines such as digital photo frames and portable electronics devices to add value to their operations.

Major Taiwan-based module firms Adata Technology, Transcend Information, Power Quotient International (PQI) and Apacer Technology all enjoyed double-digit revenue growth sequentially in March, but saw April levels decrease on month.

By: DocMemory
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