Sharp price falls for NAND flash chips have driven up the penetration of SSDs in smart notebooks, servers and datacenters, which will significantly bolster revenue performances of memory backend service houses including Powertech Technology (PTI) and Orient Semiconductor Electronics in 2019, according to industry sources.

The sources said prices for NAND flash chips had plunged by some 60% in 2018 and may fall further in 2019, but production capacities are still being expanded, with bit shipments to see an annual increase 39% in the year.

Amid the lingering NAND flash price declines, the penetration rate for SSD is likely to outrace that of traditional hard drives in 2019, boosted by a 20-30% annual growth in global demand, particularly from sectors of AI-enabled datacenters, servers and edge storage devices.

PTI is expected to enjoy notable revenue growth momentum in 2019 as it has landed orders from non-Korea memory suppliers Intel, Micron and Toshiba/WD, the sources said. The company saw its annual revenues for 2018 surge 14% on year to a historical high of NT$68.04 billion (US$2.20 billion).

Second-tier memory packager Orient Semiconductor is expected to see its capacity utilization rate pick up from 60% in 2018 to 65-67% in the second half of 2019, when the company is likely to swing to profitability based on the higher equipment utilization. The company has reported revenues of NT$15.18 billion for 2018, up 9.40% on year.

By: DocMemory
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