Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : WDC/Sandisk Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: slacker711 who wrote (26731)	9/30/2004 6:41:36 PM
From: etchmeister	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

NAND-based flash memory shipments accelerated sharply in August over July What about September? DDR and flash spot pricing continued gaining strength between September 20-24, while SDRAM pricing was flat, according to DRAMeXchange. For the NAND flash market, module makers and consumer electronics makers suggested that demand is now better than ever before. DRAMeXchange is seeing demand for 2Gbit NAND flash chips exceed supply in the spot market. Average spot prices for 2Gbit (256Mbit×8) NAND flash chips increased by 19.5% to US$23.30 and 1Gbit (128Mbit×8) chips were up by 12.8% to US$9.40. DRAMeXchange: DDR and NAND flash pricing gain steam; SDRAM flat Printer friendly Related stories Comments Email to a friend Latest news Market Intelligence, DRAMeXchange; Jack Lu, DigiTimes.com [Thursday 30 September 2004] DDR and flash spot pricing continued gaining strength between September 20-24, while SDRAM pricing was flat, according to DRAMeXchange. Average spot prices for 256Mbit (32Mbit×8) DDR333 chips increased by 1.4% to US$3.41, and DDR400 chips went up by 1.7% to US$4.66. Traders from the US were the biggest buyer for these two types of chips for that period. DRAMeXchange believes that demand for DRAM modules has also picked up further, driven by PC OEMs seasonal inventory builds. In addition, a shortage in the spot market and the coming long vacation in China are creating an optimistic outlook for spot pricing in the short term. In contrast, SDRAM pricing was flat last week. On September 24, there was only tiny demand from PC OEMs, focused on 16Mbit (1Mbit×16) PC-166 and 64Mbit (4Mbit×16) PC-143 chips. Average spot prices for 16Mbit (1Mbit×16) PC-166 edged up to US$0.70 from US$.067, and 64Mbit (4Mbit×16) PC-143 increased to US$1.60 from US$1.58. For the NAND flash market, module makers and consumer electronics makers suggested that demand is now better than ever before. DRAMeXchange is seeing demand for 2Gbit NAND flash chips exceed supply in the spot market. Average spot prices for 2Gbit (256Mbit×8) NAND flash chips increased by 19.5% to US$23.30 and 1Gbit (128Mbit×8) chips were up by 12.8% to US$9.40.

To: slacker711 who wrote (26731)	10/4/2004 11:10:56 AM
From: Cooters	Respond to of 60323

HSDPA Will Decisively Disrupt the Center of Gravity in Handset Memory, according to ABI Research tmcnet.com HSDPA Will Decisively Disrupt the Center of Gravity in Handset Memory, according to ABI Research Oyster Bay, NY - October 4, 2004 - As it is introduced over the next few years, HSDPA -- High Speed Download Packet Access -- will produce a major shift in the landscape of cellular handset memory, forcing major NOR FLASH memory vendors such as Intel and the AMD/Fujitsu alliance to adapt or risk loss of market share. With UMTS starting to gain real traction in Europe and Asia, telecommunications industry watchers are already turning their attention to HSPDA. While UMTS, with its promise of 300 kbits per second in the downlink, was touted as enabling video streaming, video conferencing and broadband Internet access, it is HSDPA, with its 3.6Mbits/sec downlink speeds, which will finally deliver the smooth user experience promised by 3G mobile technologies. But as ABI Research's director of semiconductors research, Alan Varghese, points out, HSDPA will require new handsets, and they must contain more memory -- at least double the amount -- of their predecessors. "This will be needed to store the increased content coming over the airwaves," says Varghese, "and we also need increased memory just to store and run the software for HSDPA." According to ABI Research's forecasts, wireless infrastructure should begin carrying HSDPA signals in 2005, with handsets becoming widely available in 2006, first in Japan, then more or less simultaneously in Europe and North America. This means, says Varghese, that demand for NAND FLASH memory will increase at the expense of traditional NOR FLASH. Samsung, Toshiba, Renesas and others that are already making NAND memory are well positioned for this change. Those that continue to place their bets exclusively on NOR may face erosion of their market share. ABI Research's report "Memory in Cellular Handsets" examines the strategies of the memory semiconductor manufacturers, and considers some of the emerging technologies. The study calculates the size of the cellular memory market, and makes forecasts to the year 2009.

To: slacker711 who wrote (26731)	10/5/2004 8:39:11 AM
From: slacker711	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 60323

Toshiba says flash memory shipments remain strong yahoo.reuters.com Tue Oct 5, 2004 02:25 AM ET TOKYO, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Japanese chip maker Toshiba Corp (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Tuesday its shipments of flash memories remained strong in the latest quarter, shrugging off a warning of lower sales by rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) . AMD, based in Sunnyvale, California, citing softness in sales of its memory chips used in cell phones and other devices, said on Monday its quarterly revenue will be lower than forecast, prompting a sell-off of its shares. But Toshiba, the world's second-largest flash memory maker after South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research) , said it has not seen a slowdown in its sales and is enjoying broad demand for its memory chips including for photo phones, digital electronics devices and car navigation systems. "The use of our NAND flash memory has been widening to various digital electronics devices and car navigation systems and there was no sign of weakness in demand for our flash memory chips in the quarter that ended in September," a spokesman said. The NAND flash memory market, dominated by Toshiba and Samsung, has enjoyed explosive growth from demand for digital cameras, memory cards and MP3 music players and is seen to grow to $16 billion by 2008, according to research group Semico. The NAND is a type of high-density flash memory chip that can write and erase information quickly. It is used to store data such as still and movie pictures. On the back of solid demand, Toshiba's flash memory plant in central Japan has been running at full capacity including during the summer holiday season, the spokesman said. To meet robust demand from digital camera and mobile phone markets, Toshiba decided in August to boost output capacity for flash memory chips at the plant by 7.5 percent by the first half of the business year starting next April. Meanwhile, AMD and larger rival Intel Corp. (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research) , suppliers of the NOR flash memory chip, which is used predominantly in cell phones to store application software, have seen their sales of flash memory chips at less than forecast in the quarter. Earlier this month, Intel lowered its forecast, blaming lower-than-expected demand for its microprocessors, flash memories and communications chips. Shares in Toshiba ended down 1.17 percent at 421 yen, compared with a 0.02 percent drop in the benchmark Nikkei average . Shares in peer Fujitsu Ltd (6702.T: Quote, Profile, Research) which holds a 40 percent stake in Spansion, a flash memory joint venture with AMD, fell 1.8 percent to 654 yen.