The booming smartphone market has propelled demand for key components such as multi-chip package (MCP) memory modules, which integrate multiple chips of different types.

The supply of MCP devices, however, has been constrained by limited availability of low-density NAND flash chips, according to industry sources.

As a number of low-cost smartphones are set to be announced in the third quarter, the current shortage of MCP memory devices will continue in the following quarter, the sources said.

Samsung Electronics has already reduced its supply of MCP modules, as meeting demand for its own smartphones remains the vendor's top priority, the sources indicated.

Nonetheless, as sales of Samsung's Galaxy S4 series smartphones have started to slow, industry observers are keeping a close eye on whether Samsung will release its previously-stockpiled MCP modules as well as related flash chips to other MCP memory providers, whose supplies have been negatively affected by the tight supply of low-density NAND flash chips.

SK Hynix, another major NAND flash chipmaker, has also cut its supply of chips with densities of 4Gb or below, the sources observed. Dedicated memory module makers have approached other chip suppliers, including Micron Technology and Powerchip Technology, to secure steady supplies of low-density chips used in their MCP products, the sources said.

By: DocMemory
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