Some NAND flash chip suppliers plan to scale down their production in order to prevent related chip prices from dropping further in the first quarter of 2014, according to sources at memory module makers.

　　The NAND flash market is currently oversupplied with the situation being worse than suppliers expected, causing chip prices to fall, the sources indicated. Prices for NAND flash devices have been cut irrationally since late November, the sources observed.

　　Prices for microSD memory cards, for instance, saw a double-digit decline in a single month, the sources said.

　　Meanwhile, speculation is circulating in the memory industry that Apple has reduced its orders for NAND flash from its Japan-based supplier. Meanwhile, Micron Technology and Intel have started to dump NAND flash to clear out inventory resulting in a significant increase in availability in the market, the sources revealed.

　　NAND flash prices stayed high during the first half of 2013, thanks to rising demand for smartphones and tablets. Prices began to drop in the second half of the year, as a result of disappointing sales of high-end mobile devices. Though a fire at SK Hynix' DRAM fab in China has encouraged some chip firms to allocate a portion of their NAND flash capacities for the manufacture of DRAM parts, the NAND flash market is still in a state of oversupply.