Micron and Nanya signed MOU on sub 50nm DRAM technology development; Keep competition in UFD makers spurs vendors to introduce low-price high-density products to ease inventory
Published Mar.4, 2008
Micron and Nanya signed MOU on sub 50nm DRAM technology development
DRAM technology, which used to be clearly classified into stack and trench technology, is about to see fundamental change amid leading advocators’ technology development and cross partnership.
Micron and Nanya announced on March 3 that the companies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore potential technology sharing, joint technology development and development of a new joint venture. Both parties will jointly focus on the development of sub-50nm technologies.
Prior to Micron and Nanya’s announcement, Qimonda announced that technology breakthrough with DRAM roadmap to 30nm and feature cell sizes of 4F2, with production of 1Gb DDR2 slated for the second half of 2008. The company will transit to 58nm production in 2008 and advance to 46nm in 2H09. While the announcement raised eyebrows among marketers, some hinted that the coincidence of the two announcements’ timing implies that Qimonda may foretell some hidden message.
By referring to sales from the mentioned companies, DRAMeXchange believes that market share of respective stack and trench will see structural changes alongside with the strengthen ties among involved parties.
As of 2006, the trench camp records a market share of 23%. But as DRAM makers competed over capacity in 2007, the share has decline to 18%. In light of the emergence of new partnership mode, as well as competition from the stack camp, market share of the trench camp may be eroded further.
Strong NT dollar mutes DRAM transaction
DRAM spot prices maintained flat in the week Feb 29-Mar 3 with minimal transaction amid strong NT dollar and seasonality downturn.
After seeing price of DDR2 512Mb eTT hit the record-high US$1.17 prior to the Lunar New Year in early Feb, price headed south afterwards with price once dropped by almost 36% to US$0.86 during the holidays. Price trend was notionally stable last week with limited fluctuation in both eTT and branded chips. Only DDR2 512Mb eTT chip posted a 1.1% drop and DDR2 667MHz 1Gb posted a 1% gain last week.
Marketers attributed the strong NT dollar appreciation against US dollar as the primarily reason for such a price stability. As NT dollar now appreciates to one US dollar to 31.1 NT dollar, up from the previous 32.4 NT dollar, DRAM makers are exposing to aggravated exchange loss pressure with considerable DRAM inventory piled up. Coupling with the slow season effect, transaction thus was discouraged further.
Keep competition in UFD makers spurs vendors to introduce low-price high-density products to ease inventory
Seasonality downturn has prompted more USB Flash drive (UFD) makers to introduce high-density products with attractive prices. Prior to the Lunar New Year in early February, some second- and third-tier branded UFD vendors introduced UFD in 8GB memory density at US$30 only. When the holidays arrived, more vendors joined the league with a few first-tier branded vendors also introducing 8GB UFB at similar price levels. Not only did the existence of these low-price high-volume UFD highlight the keen competition in the NAND Flash application market, it also indicated UFD makers’ attempts in easing the inventory and boost market share.
The current mainstream memory density of UFD is 2GB, with most priced in the range of US$15. The emergence of 8GB UFDs priced at only US$30 highlights vendors’ attempt to spur sales via boosting memory density with limited price adjustment. In the UFD and memory card market, when a product that supports a certain specification is priced below US$30, rapid penetration follows as many consumers will use the price mark as a benchmark. Once retail price of these applications break this benchmark, noticeable growth in consumption incentive will be seen.
UFD with higher density penetration is also driven by the mass adoption of USB interface at a broad range of multimedia devices. In addition to PC users, many digital TV (DTV), set-top-box (STB), DVD player, mini hi-fi system (home and car), digital photo frame, support USB interface for data transmission. The extended presence of UFD beyond PC thus encourages more vendors to introduce 16GB or 32GB UFD to channels. From the supply point of view, as chipmakers have consistent advancement over technology and 12-inch wafer production, the growing amount of NAND Flash chips also help downstream players to adjust their strategy, and in turn help spur NAND Flash demand.
NAND Flash spot price recap, Feb 25 - Mar 3
In the SLC segment, 1Gb dropped by 5.9% to US$1.90; 2Gb dropped by 1.7% to US$2.85; 4Gb dropped by 9.5% to US$4.30, 8Gb dropped by 9.5% to US$8.56 and 16Gb dropped by 3% to US$19.13. In the MLC segment, 4Gb dropped by 6.3% to US$2.08; 8Gb dropped by 7.8% to US$2.72; 16Gb dropped by 5.2% to US$5.11 and 32Gb dropped by 3.5% to US$11.02.
For tables check out link
dramexchange.com |
