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Technology Stocks : Micron Only Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Chas who wrote (31383)	3/29/1998 12:54:00 AM
From: Chas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 53903

Article to share here: March 30, 1998, TechWeb News DRAMs -- DRAM supply/demand stabilizes, but sub-$5 prices fret vendors By The deteriorating DRAM marketplace took a heavy toll on the top 10 vendors in 1997 as only two- Micron Technology Inc. and Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc.- posted gains in revenue and market share, according to Semico Research Corp., Phoenix. For the other eight, it was a bloodbath. For suppliers, the supply/demand situation and the effect of the Asian flu are big concerns, especially as market prices fall, according to Bob Harrison, North American marketing manager at Texas Instruments Inc. in Houston. No one can escape the effects of the currency problems, he said. DRAM suppliers are clearly in a difficult market when 16-Mbit chips fall below $5, said Jeff Mailloux, DRAM marketing manager at Micron Technology, Boise, Idaho. In fact, 16-Mbit DRAM prices fell to about $2 in late 1997, according to IC Insights Inc., a Scottsdale, Ariz., market research firm, but have now rebounded to between $3 and $3.50. Although some fab starts are being pushed out, other new DRAM capacity is coming on stream during the current unsettled market condition, he said. Customers are concerned about vendors supporting the PC-100 specifications and ramping production in time, Mailloux said. Micron makes its 16-Mbit and 64-Mbit DRAMs PC-100 compatible through screening and by using 125-MHz parts to provide ample timing margins within memory modules. Samsung Semiconductor Inc. sees very strong demand for PC-100 DRAMs, especially for high-end systems, said Avo Kanadjian, memory marketing vice president at Samsung, San Jose. By the end of the year, PC-100 will represent more than half of total demand, he said. However, meeting PC-100 is challenging for some vendors that may have difficulty sampling 64-Mbit, let alone PC-100 DRAMs. By density, unit volume for 16-Mbit peaked in 1997 and more than half the DRAM bits shipped later this year will be 64-Mbit, Kanadjian said. Over all, pricing has stabilized to some degree with supply and demand within about 5% of each other, he added.