The uphill spot price trend for 16Gb multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash was discouraged this week (September 13-17) amid an unexpected supply influx at channels, according to inSpectrum.
Spot price of low-density 16Gb MLC flash posted a strong rebound at 6% growth last week as demand surfaced from the Greater China area prior to the National Day holidays in early October. However, the momentum only lasted through early this week, inSpectrum observed.
Citing major brokers/traders, inSpectrum said more Samsung Electronics-brand 16Gb chips, which are fabricated on a 32nm process, were seen at channels this week and the chips were quoted with a more than 10% discount below the average street price. As demand for low-density chips was in line with seasonality, the influx of chips led pricing to swing down, the firm explained.
Supply for 16Gb MLC flash has been limited at channels for a while as vendors have reserved most of their capacity for high-density chip production. Thus, corresponding pricing is subject to stronger volatility if demand surfaces. The majority of the 16Gb MLC chips as available at channels have been from Samsung and Hynix Semiconductor's 40nm-class processes.
As of the noon session of September 17, spot pricing of 16Gb MLC NAND flash chips dropped 6% to US$4.40 and 32Gb dropped by 4% to US$5.18.