The outlook for mobile RAM remains optimistic despite weaker-than-expected demand thus far in 2011, according to sources at major Taiwan-based memory packaging and testing houses. The growing market for smartphones, tablet PCs and other portable consumer products will contribute to the sector's promising future, the sources said.
Mobile RAM demand has grown at a slower pace since the end of the first quarter, the sources pointed out. Japan's earthquake did not bring major disruptions to the supply chain, but instead, has surprisingly caused an oversupply. Chipmakers and downstream vendors previously stepped up efforts to secure supply in the face of potential shortfalls, which has later led to piled-up inventory and some overbooking due to inadequate demand, the sources indicated.
Walton president Yu Hong-chi believes the current supply-demand imbalance is temporary. Demand for mobile RAM will gradually pick up and enjoy growth momentum over the long term, thanks to the brisk outlook for popular consumer based devices such as tablets, Yu noted.
Walton expects to raise the proportion of output for mobile RAM and niche-market DRAM to 50% in the second half of 2011 from 40% in the first half, Yu said.
Fellow packaging and testing firm Powertech Technology (PTI) has remarked that sales generated from mobile DRAM orders will account for 25% of company revenues in the first half of 2012.
According to Digitimes Research, global demand for mobile RAM is expected to hit 270TB in 2011, up 132% from about 120TB in 2010. Demand in the second half of 2011 will likely jump by a higher 135.6% from a year earlier, the research firm estimated.