With most memory module houses having already stocked up many DDR2 chips, demand slowed down this week (April 12-16), resulting in a price correction, according to inSpectrum.
Spot price for 1Gb DDR2 posted a 4% drop, averaged at US$2.86 as of noon of April 16. Price of 1Gb DDR3 also posted a 1% drop to US$2.96.
Leading memory module houses continued raising quotes for both DDR2 and DDR3 modules, but transaction volume was not significant, inSpectrum said. Since most memory module houses have high levels of DDR2 inventory, their demand will continue to be weak. With the impact of the low season, the price correction will continue next week, inSpectrum said.
NAND flash spot prices continued to be weak this week. Citing traders' comments, most industry players think the recent Taiwan dollar appreciation against US dollar has discouraged buying incentives as most believe chips will be cheaper, inSpectrum said. Slow seasonality is expected to send some traders/controller design houses dumping more inventory to the channels later this month in order to boost sales, it noted.
As of noon of April 16, spot price of 16Gb and 32Gb multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash dropped by 1% and 3% to US$4.26 and US$7.13, respectively.