DRAM prices hit a record low

Fierce competition among manufacturers has now pushed DRAM prices to record lows this year. Industry experts predict the falling trend will continue in the coming time.

The contract price of 512MB DDR2 667MHz DRAM memory chip yesterday (September 20) has dropped to $ 1.75 - down 12.5% ​​from the price of the previous two weeks. If from the beginning of the year until now, the price of 667MHz DRAM DDR2 has decreased by a total of 70.5%. According to DRAMeXchange Technology Inc., this is the lowest selling price since the beginning of the year.

According to the World Semiconductor Industry Association, DRAM prices in the first half of this year have decreased by 40% compared to the prices of the same period last year. Meanwhile, the volume of products consumed in the market increased by over 66%.

It can be said that DRAM price has dropped to the low level equivalent to the price in May. At that time, DRAM manufacturers had to refuse to sell the product because the selling price was almost equal to the cost of producing the product.

The price pressure for producers over the past time is very strong as more and more new DRAM production lines are installed before forecasting the increase in demand for this type of memory when that Windows Vista launched.

Research firm Gartner predicts that DRAM prices will continue to fall sharply in the coming time but the reduction will be more limited. Gartner spokesman said that in the future there will be some brokers and distributors with large DRAM reserves will start to launch products at low prices, to recover capital and avoid deep losses. more.

The current situation may be different from the situation of a few years ago. At that time, DRAM producers mainly aimed at dominating market share rather than profit. The current price of DRAM is also a sign of that war. Firms that invest too much in building new production lines make supply significantly increase. The inevitable consequence is that selling prices must go down.

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