There is little chance NAND flash prices will rise in the second quarter, but a price rally may occur in the third quarter on a warming up of demand from the consumer electronics and smartphone sectors, according to Khein Seng Pua, chairman of memory device controller IC design house Phison Electronics.
Pua said NAND flash prices are expected to rise substantially in the third quarter, when system OEMs begin to restock inventory.
New Apple products and smartphones will remain the key drivers for the NAND flash market in 2010, Pua indicated. He believes major chip suppliers' progress to 20nm-class processes will help push the adoption of solid-state drives (SSD).
In addition to SSD controllers, Phison also supplies the whole device with monthly shipments now reaching 2,000-3,000 units, according to Pua. Pua said revenues generated from SSD products will start bringing in a solid contribution to the company's revenues in the third quarter of 2010.
Phison has posted revenues of NT$7.985 billion (US$255 million) for the first quarter of 2010, a quarterly record. Shipments of its memory-device controller chips also hit a company record of 110 million units in the quarter.
However, Phison saw net profits for the first quarter drop 42% on quarter to NT$419 million. Its first-quarter gross margin was 10.06%, compared to 15.55% posted in the fourth quarter of 2009.