SEOUL, KOREA- The prices of NAND flash, a memory chip used mainly for smartphones, are falling again amid concerns that the memory chip market enters a phase of adjustment due to sluggish demand from China.Along with the decline in the prices of NAND flash memories, the prices of DRAMs for use in personal computers, which showed an upward trend, are also stalling.
According to Taiwan's market research firm DRAMeXchange, the fixed transaction price of the mainstream 64-Gb NAND flash memories stood at US$4.69 on August 16. The fixed transaction price for the early part of August showed a 6.6-percent decline compared to the prices recorded in the latter part of July. Compared to the year's high set in a month ago, the August prices marked a 15-percent plunge. The prices of 32-Gb NAND flash memory chips also fell by 6 percent to $3.16 compared to 15 days ago.
The prices of DRAMS for use in PCs remained stable for about a month. The fixed transaction price for 2-Gb DRAMs for the early part of August stood at $1.58, similar to the prices recorded a month ago. Key factors behind the decline in the prices of NAND flash memories and DRAMs include the sluggish growth of the Chinese smartphone market which has led to the recent surge in demand for memory chips.
Monday, August 19th, 2013