Record sales point to DRAM price rise
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Taiwanese DRAM makers posted record-high sales last month as a rise in PC demand helped raise prices for the most widely used chips, DDR2.
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Worldwide semiconductor sales rose a scant 1.5 percent in October, to $18.8 billion from $18.5 billion in September, as many chip users pared bloated inventories, the Semiconductor Industry Association said on Friday.
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Boosted by the strongest demand from businesses since 1999, PC shipments this year will be higher than previously anticipated, research firm IDC said today.
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Hit $25bn Global chip sales soared to $20.5bn in August, a new monthly record, according to data from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).â¦
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The S. & P.âs 500-stock index approached a six-year high as retailers rallied on the first sales increase since July.
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Asia shows biggest growth over last year Worldwide sales of semiconductors totalled $20.6bn for the month of July, a jump of 2.2 per cent on the previous year, according to new figures.â¦
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Kerching Microprocessor chip sales hit record levels in the third quarter thanks in large part to an intense two-horse race between arch rivals Intel and AMD, according to a new study.â¦
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Well, it grew a bit, says IDC Research house IDC reckons the worldwide storage market reached $4.8bn last year - a six per cent growth on last year.â¦
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(InfoWorld) - After a much longer than expected delay, DDR2 (double data rate, second generation) has finally taken over as the most popular memory chip used in PCs. The crossover to DDR2 from the previous mainstream chip, DDR-400 (double data rate, 400 megahertz) took place this week on both the spot DRAM market and the contract market, industry researcher DRAMeXchange Technology said Wednesday. It's been a long time coming. The chipsÂ entered the market far later than expected, mainly due to heat problems. In fact, DDR-400 , which has reigned as industry leader for the past few years, was supposed to be a stop-gap chip with such a short life span that some companies hadn't even planned to support it with a chip set. But when DDR-400 showed up on Intel's product road map in late 2002, component makers began to move forward on DDR-400, and put off developing compatible parts for DDR2. Intel microprocessors power around 80 percent of all PCs, making an Intel stamp of approval vital to computer industry parts makers. Advanced Micro DevicesÂ (AMD) helped further put off demand for DDR2 this year. The company waited until the middle of the year toÂ launch its first desktop and laptop processors that support DDR2Â because it didn't think initial versions of the chip added substantial performance benefits to AMD processor-based systems, yet commanded a higher price. The first DDR2 chips ran at 400MHz and then 533MHz, but AMD waited until DDR2 chips running at 667MHz reached mass production levels, which lowered price and ensured a plentiful supply. Currently, a wide range of Intel and AMD systems support DDR2. DRAMeXchange noted Wednesday that prices may become an issue again for DDR2. Prices for the chips rose 8.8 percent last week, compared to the previous week, the company said, due to strong demand for PCs. The market researcher expects prices to remain strong throughout September, the traditional time when back-to-school PC buying increases buying activity in the DRAM market. Â
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Intel Corp.&#39;s fourth-quarter sales are on track to break a company record as demand for the chips that power computers was stronger than originally expected in the weeks leading up to the holiday buying season.
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The world's largest DRAM maker agrees to pay multimillion dollar fine in a DRAM price-fixing suit.
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Market researchers say that production of 1G bit DRAM chips passed the 512G bit chips for the first time in October, indicating that most new PCs are sold with Microsoft's Vista software.
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Heavy price cuts help deliver a stronger than expected rise in UK High Street sales, official figures show.
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Commodities rise to record levels on demand, dollar depreciation.
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(InfoWorld) - Struggling memory chip vendors may see a ray of hope in the near future as prices for DRAMÂ chips stoppedÂ their long slideÂ during the first half of July, according to a report released Tuesday. However, that pause is likely to be brief as DRAM suppliers still have too much inventory in their warehouses, said the report from iSuppli. As vendors like SamsungÂ and Hynix SemiconductorÂ seek extra revenue by selling off those inventories, prices could drop again, said iSuppli analyst Nam Hyung Kim. Therefore, Kim upgraded his rating of the short-term DRAM market only from "negative" to "neutral," saying he is not yet ready to declare a recovery in that sector. Falling DRAM pricesÂ help keep prices low for consumer electronics like PCs, MP3 music players and digital cameras. But it puts big pressure on chip makers to find new revenue. For example, in April Samsung blamed tumbling DRAM prices for helping toÂ push its net profit down 15 percentÂ in the first quarter of 2007, compared to the same period last year. In recent years, some vendors have broken the law in that effort, leading to price-fixing convictions by the U.S. Department of Justice against Samsung and Hynix, as well as their competitors Infineon Technologies, Elpida Memory, and Mitsubishi Electric. Price collusion by DRAM vendors can also harm business computer buyers, according toÂ a lawsuit filed in May against Hynix by Sun. Sun claims the South Korean company inflated prices for its DRAM chips, leading to artificially high prices for Sun servers and storage systems. Some chip vendors are trying to improve their profits by reducing their DRAM production in favor of NAND flash, the memory technology used in popular items like Apple's iPod music players and iPhone smartphone. That transition will help to keep the DRAM market strong in the third quarter of 2007 by avoiding a surplus, Kim said. But even the NAND market will begin to droop in the second half of 2007, as memory manufacturers rush into that sector and force another price decline, he predicted.
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European repurchase market volumes jumped a record-breaking 270 per cent this month as fears of a liquidity crunch drove banks to turn to the relative safety of the secured money markets.
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The worldwide demand for storage capacity continues to accelerate rapidly, with the latest research from analyst IDC showing a 41.