DDR5 contract prices, which fell as much as 20% in July alone, are expected to continue trending downward through the end of this year, according to sources at memory module houses.

DR5 prices may come close to the market's sweet spot between the end of 2022 and early 2023, said the sources, adding that the price gap between DDR5 and DDR4 chips will then be narrowed substantially.

DDR5 chip shipments were constrained during 2021, due to shortages of power management ICs and certain logic chips, the sources indicated. DDR5 memory prices were then pushed up to high levels, the sources said.

A gradual easing of logic IC shortages, and rapid slowdowns in PC and consumer electronics demand amid macro headwinds have been dragging down DDR5 chip prices since the latter part of second-quarter 2022, the sources noted. In July alone, drops in DDR5 contract prices were even larger than a 10-15% fall in DDR4 prices.

DRAM vendors are all gearing up for their DDR5 chip output ramp-ups, but are unwilling to see DDR5 prices collapse and impact their bottom line prices for DDR4 chips, the sources said. The chip suppliers intend to ramp up their DDR5 chip output at a gradual pace, and are more cautious about the output ramp-ups amid stagnant demand.

Continuous drop in DDR5 prices will help accelerate growth in DRAM content per PC in 2023, the sources indicated. Nevertheless, due to the memory's still high price, its adoption among PCs will be relatively slow compared to that among industrial and server devices next year.

By: DocMemory
Copyright © 2023 CST, Inc. All Rights Reserved