Despite Samsung Electronics officially predicting that the DRAM market will not balance out until the end of the year, sources at the company claim that global DRAM demand stands a good chance of picking up next quarter.

The sources indicated supply of DRAM will start to lag demand next quarter and widen in the fourth quarter. In addition to seasonal effects affecting demand, DRAM supply will be affected by makers experiencing lower yields as they transition from DDR to DDR2 production. Makers are also considering allocating more capacity to production of more profitable products, such as NAND flash or CMOS image sensors, which will further limit supply, the sources said.

As a result, prices for DDR and DDR2 chips are expected to rise in the second half of this year, the sources added.

Taiwan DRAM makers agree with the forecast, as OEMs often place more orders with DRAM makers in the second half of a year and the strong demand should last until the Christmas season, the makers said.

In the first quarter of this year, supply outpaced demand by 0.1% and the oversupply ratio will widen to 0.6% this quarter, the sources stated. According to a Korea Times report, Samsung said that global DRAM supply and demand will balance out in the fourth quarter of this year and the memory semiconductor market will not recover until 2007

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