With DRAM prices stabilizing, chip suppliers have restored some of the capacity left idle previously, according to industry sources. Companies including Elpida Memory and Nanya Technology reportedly moved to cut back their production in the fourth quarter of 2011 with an aim to stop prices from further falls.
DRAM chipmakers have scaled up their output by a combined 100,000 wafers in the first quarter of 2012, the sources indicated. However, the firms remain careful as end-market demand still requires a substantial rise, the sources noted. Having a balance between supply and demand is considered a goal.
The ability to resume production also depends on their financial conditions, the sources said. Taking Elpida as an example, the firm's ongoing financial crisis might discourage it from lifting its production significantly, the sources pointed out.
Global supply of DRAM is forecast to grow 30% in 2012, the sources cited unnamed research firms as saying, adding that growth was originally estimated at just about 22%.
DRAM contract prices for early February have gone up as PC OEMs start to replenish inventory, according to the sources. ASPs for 4GB DDR3 DRAM modules have risen about 6% to US$18.
Nanya was quoted as saying in previous reports that it was negotiating higher prices with its OEM customers and expected to reach favorable deals for February.