Samsung Electronics and Toshiba reportedly are mulling plans to decelerate capacity expansion at their 12-inch fabs in order to stop NAND chip prices from falling further, according to industry sources.

Samsung's and Toshiba's technology transitions to 21nm and 19nm, respectively, have already boosted their output of NAND flash memory, the sources said. However, demand growth is still lagging the pace of supply expansion leading to an oversupply and price drops, the sources observed.

Samsung and Toshiba are both now evaluating the possibility of postponing their scheduled 12-inch fab expansions with an aim to prevent further falls in chip prices, the sources indicated.

NAND flash demand for ultrabooks and SSDs has been a disappointment thus far in 2012. Poor demand is causing chip prices to continue their downward trend, the sources said.

Prices for NAND flash chips moved to become stable in June, but end-market demand actually remains sluggish, the sources pointed out. The price stabilizing was as a result of Samsung's intentionally reduction in its supply to China-based channel distributors, the sources said.