DRAM and NAND Prices See Trends in the US Tech Market
TapTechNews October 3rd news, in the post-pandemic era, especially before last year's 618, NAND memory represented by solid-state drives (SSDs) showed a significant downward trend in prices, and even some second- and third-tier brands could sell a 2-terabyte SSD for only $53 (around July 2023).
However, as major manufacturers promptly adjusted the production capacity of memory chips later, the prices of terminal products such as solid-state drives have currently risen significantly, and at the same time, it has also driven up the price of DRAM memory. This situation has also made many users who failed to buy their desired products at that time feel deeply regretful.
One year later, we now see the downward trend of DRAM and NAND again. The statistics of TrendForce's DRAMeXchange, a market analysis company, show that due to the sluggish demand for PCs and consumer electronics, the contract prices of DRAM and NAND decreased in September.
Among them, the contract price of DDR4 8Gb 1Gx8 at the end of September fell by 17.07% month-on-month compared to the end of August to $1.7. It is said that the price of DRAM has been steadily rising since last October, but it fell by 2.38% in August, which is also the first time the DRAM quote has fallen, and then the decline further intensified in September.
At the same time, due to weak demand and excess inventory, the price of TLC NAND flash wafers also decreased, which led to the decrease of MLC and SLC wafer prices. For example, the contract price of 128Gb 16Gx8 MLC (mainly used for flash products such as memory cards and USB flash drives) fell by 11.44% to $4.34 in September, while the price of NAND has remained stable for nearly half a year.
TrendForce pointed out that the inventory of PC manufacturers still remains at a relatively high level, which means that the current demand for PC purchases by consumers has not yet recovered. Of course, most of the inventory is DDR4 products, not the newer DDR5, so the price reduction trend will not spread to DDR5 memory for the time being.
TrendForce explained that the growth rate of global notebook shipments in the third quarter was 4.4% higher than that in the previous quarter, but did not reach the expected level; the shipment volume in the fourth quarter is expected to decrease by 3.8% compared to the third quarter. It is further adjusted down compared to the previous prediction (decrease by 0.8%).
TrendForce also mentioned that the inventory of DDR4 products is significantly higher than that of the latest DDR5. As of the TapTechNews release, the price of DDR5 memory still remains stable at a high point, while other products (except flash memory) have different degrees of price reduction.
