Given that spot market prices for 2Gb DDR3 chips are currently hovering over US$1.05, contract prices for commodity DRAM parts are set to rise 5-10% in March, according to industry sources.

PC vendors including Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Dell delayed replenishing their inventories in April to optimize the financial performance for the first quarter, noted the sources, adding that the vendors will be more willing to replenish inventory starting May pushing DRAM contract quotes.

Market reports indicating that Apple will take up about 50% of the capacity of Elpida Memory's 12-inch plant in Hiroshima for the production Mobile RAM in the second half of 2012, which will also help improve the DRAM market, the sources noted.

In addition, the recent capacity cut by Samsung Electronics could result in a reduction of 100 million DRAM chips in the second quarter of 2012 further stabilizing DRAM chip prices, added the sources.