which tracks pricing for memory chips, has posted an announcement on its website that data for NAND flash will not be updated until the end of July. NAND chip companies have been negotiating with their clients, and are still unable to decide the prices for early July, the price tracker indicated.
NAND flash contract prices have not been settled since June. Suppliers insist on maintaining current prices while system OEMs are asking for price decreases due to the uncertain market outlook.
Device manufacturers and distributors scaled up their inventories in April and May amid concerns of supply chain interruptions after the March 11 earthquake in Japan. However, end-market demand turned out to be weaker than expected in the second quarter, causing an inventory pile-up and price corrections.
Factors that led to a particularly slow second quarter included underperformance of tablet PC shipments, sovereign-debt troubles in Europe and the slow recovery of the global economy.
Demand for flash cards and drives in the channel also remains sluggish. Emerging segments, such as USB 3.0 storage devices, still make limited contributions to overall NAND flash consumption, the firm indicated.
With current order visibility remaining low, downstream device manufacturers and distributors continue to slow their buying and are working through their chip inventories. Visibility should have a clearer picture later in the third quarter.