Toshiba's NAND flash production was disrupted for two days following a power outage on December 8, with the incident driving up spot prices by 3-4% to US$4.26 for 16Gb chips and US$5.18 for 32Gb ones, according to industry sources in Taiwan.
Spot prices for 8Gb and 64Gb chips have also increased by smaller percentages, the sources indicated.
The production disruption will decrease Toshiba's monthly NAND flash shipments by 10-20%, the sources cited Toshiba's estimation as indicating. The reduced shipment volumes translate into a 3.5-7% cut in global supply based on Toshiba's global market share, with the impact to be felt in January-February 2011, the sources said.
Smartphones accounted for the largest portion of global NAND flash use in 2010, and built-in SSDs (solid-state drives) and embedded memory for tablet PCs will also be major applications in 2011, the sources indicated. Despite increasing demand for NAND flash, oversupply may appear in the second half of 2011 with Samsung Electronics beginning production at its Line-16 and Toshiba at its Fab 5 (a joint venture plant with SanDisk), the sources said.