When was the last time any chipmaker increased DRAM prices?
Hynix, Samsung raise their DRAM prices by 10-20%, says report
Semiconductor Business News
(12/17/01 18:19 p.m. EST)
SEOUL, Korea -- South Korea's two major chip makers--Hynix Semiconductor Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.--have raised their respective DRAM prices on a contract basis by 10-20% for the second time this month, according to a report from Reuters. The companies have reportedly raised their prices, due in part to unexpected demand for select products, especially double-data-rate (DDR) SDRAMs, according to analysts.
But still, the two chip giants--and other DRAM makers--continue to lose money at an alarming rate, following plunging prices and overcapacity in the troubled memory sector, according to analysts.
All DRAM companies are still making chips at or below cost, analysts said. The spot price for a bellwether 128-megabit SDRAM is $1.80 this week, an increase of $0.05 from last week, according to a Web site called dramexchange.com.
There are some positive signs in the market, however. Demand for DDR SDRAMs are picking up, following Intel Corp.'s long-awaited release of its code-name Brookdale-D chip set, according to analysts. The Brookdale-D, or 845D, is a chip set that supports DDR SDRAM for systems, based on Intel's Pentium 4 microprocessor, analyst added.
"Prices have moved up recently because demand is outstripping supply, particularly in terms of DDR," said Tom Quinn, vice president of marketing of San Jose-based Samsung Semiconductor Inc., the U.S. chip of Samsung of Korea. "The Intel 845D introduction is causing a lot of buying activity and there is not yet enough capacity on the DDR side," Quinn said.
"One particularly hot item in DDR is 256-megabit device which is used to build 512-megabyte DIMMS," Quinn said. "There is a real shortage here as customers are taking advantage of bargain basement memory prices to load up on megabytes per system," he said.
In addition to DDR SDRAMs, Rambus Inc.'s RDRAMs are also picking up some steam. "In fact, the situation is really interesting right now as RDRAM and DDR are nearly the same price in the channel," he added. |
