NAND flash contract prices for the second half of May 2011 are being negatively affected by a weakening in end-market demand, according to sources at memory module companies. Prices for the entire month fell more than 15%, the sources estimated.
The nearly 20% decline implies that almost every NAND-chip producer adjusted downward their prices significantly in just one month, the sources pointed out.
Demand from Apple, which is still the largest buyer of NAND chips, has not picked up as aggressively as usual in the second quarter, the sources observed. Other system vendors are also slowing down their pace of orders, the sources added.
At the spot market, NAND chip prices for May declined about 20% amid lackluster demand, the sources said. Sales of NAND flash-based devices such as USB drives and memory cards fell stagnant in the month, the sources indicated.
Obviously the overall NAND flash sector may be near the bottom, and requires new stimuli to create demand, the sources argued.
average prices for 32Gb and 16Gb MLC (multi-level cell) NAND chips declined 15.8% and 11.4% to US$4.85 and US$3.12, respectively, in the second half of May. Meanwhile, prices for higher-density 64Gb parts decreased 8.7% on average to US$9.39.