The ongoing DRAM shortage is causing a panic among PC makers, which now have less than one month of inventory, according to Nanya Technology spokesperson Pei-Lin Pai speaking at the company's recent investors conference. The chip shortage has even affected shipments of some first-tier PC vendors, Pai pointed out.
Pai said that PC customers are complaining of not getting sufficient supply of DRAM chips, and their stockpiles are falling below safe inventory levels.
Pai also said that despite growing prices due to tighter supply, Nanya has only seen a few requests from its PC clients to lower memory content per box in their products.
Nanya has raised its contract prices for April by 10%, higher than the industry's average of 4-6% growth, according to Pai. He indicated that DRAM pricing is unlikely to see a substantial rise, but has little room for correction.
Nanya has seen its customers begin to place orders for the third quarter, Pai said. He added that its and Inotera Memories' production ramps on 50nm will smooth their output and help lower production costs significantly.
Joanne Chien, senior analyst at Digitimes Research, commented that tight supply of DRAM chips should have little impact on PC makers' shipments. However, the higher prices may become an issue, and PC companies need to consider and undertake some measures to protect their profits.