Bucking against the persisting price declines, the eTT spot price underwent a sharp increase last week, where the DDR2 512Mb eTT jumped from USD 1.03 on Oct 15 to USD 1.17 on Oct 22, a WoW increase of 11.9%. By contrast, minimal fluctuations were seen in the branded DRAM chip prices. Amid the eTT rebound, prices increased merely by 1.4%. According to market observers, the price jump in the DDR2 eTT stemmed from the ongoing 70nm process transition by major suppliers, which resulted in a smaller production output. In addition, the prices were also buoyed by the strategic chip purchases from some buyers. Apparently, the latest spot price rebound was mainly due to an increase in market activity, and not the result of a rise in the end demand. Meanwhile, as the chip buying was mainly concentrated in the DDR2 eTT segment, it did not help drive up the branded chip prices. As for the near-term market outlook, some observers believe a huge supply increase will be seen in the DDR2 eTT, rendering it to fall back to the USD 1 level. Separately, in the DDR 512Mb segment, amid stable demand, the price closed at USD 2.51 on Oct/22, down by 5.9%.
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Similar to last week, the DDR2 price continued to spiral downwards, while for the DDR, prices slightly edged up, due to a DDR shortage. After slipping to USD 1, the DDR2 512Mb eTT rebounded slightly, hovering between the USD 1.02~1.05 level. On Oct/15, the DDR2 512Mb 667Hz closed at USD 1.35, down by 2.9% from USD 1.39 on Oct/8. Separately, the DDR2 512Mb eTT declined from USD 1.09 to USD 1.03, down by 5.5%. In the DDR1 market, in light of a supply shortfall in the spot market, prices climbed slightly higher. The average price of the DDR 512Mb 400MHz closed at USD 2.66 on 10/15, up by 5.6% WoW. With the momentum behind a spot market rebound remaining weak, the trend is expected to continue for next week.
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Due to China's National Day holidays and persisting weak demand, trading in the spot market remained sluggish, which further drove down prices. On Oct/8, the DDR2 512Mb 667MHz closed at USD 1.39, down by 4.1% from USD 1.45 on Oct/1. Meanwhile, the DDR2 512Mb eTT declined from USD 1.23 to USD 1.09, down by 11.4%. As stated during last week’s report, the small rebound in the spot price did not last long. Although the inventory levels of traders remain healthy, with contract prices still falling, and the relatively high level of inventory in the overall market players, the intention of buying is weak.
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The DRAM spot price rebounded from the earlier declines seen during the beginning of last week. Between the 9/26 and 10/1 period, although the DDR2 512Mb 667MHz declined 2.03% to USD 1.45, the DDR2 512Mb eTT climbed from USD 1.17 to USD 1.23, up by 5.13%. The spot price rebound can be attributed to two main reasons—(1) Prices bottoming up from the previous low of USD 1.10. (2) Due to the severe price decline, Hynix announced on 9/28 it has temporarily stopped supplying chips to the spot market. Nevertheless, with the DDR2 512Mb eTT daily average price now very near the daily low of the DDR2 512Mb 667MHz, if the major chip prices do not increase, it will hamper further price increases in the spot market.
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In the spot market, demand in the new emerging markets are picking up ahead of China's National Day holidays. Unfortunately, spot prices are not increasing correspondingly. Some module houses and retailers continue to sell their memory products at very low prices. Last week, the DDR2 eTT and branded chip prices respectively hit a low of USD1.15 and USD 1.48.
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Amid the weak DRAM spot market, prices continued to slump. The DDR2 512Mb 667MHz declined to USD 1.54, a drop of 7.8%. The same downward price pressure could be seen in other chip densities, where the DDR2 eTT slipped to USD 1.31. Prices have been on a declining trend since August, due to sluggish market demand, and a wait and see attitude from both buyers and sellers. However, after the DDR2 eTT fell through the low point experienced in May, some retailers and module houses have begun to increase their inventory levels. This helped bring up the spot prices last Thursday, which also indirectly improved the overall market buying.
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Last week the DRAM spot price was in an evident decline, where the average drop for the DDR2 exceeded 10%. DDR2 512Mb 667MHz dipped to USD1.67, while the DDR2 512Mb eTT slid to USD 1.32. Due to the weak spot market demand, it has spurred many retailers and module houses to sell the DRAM chips at lower prices, resulting in the DDR2 eTT price to fall through May's low of USD 1.32.
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The DRAM spot market continues to remain in the doldrums. Although the DDR2 512Mb 64Mbx8 eTT reached US$1.80 last Monday (8/27), following the upward price trend on Friday (8/24) in the week before, prices soon began to decline again. For the entire week, it hovered near the US$1.50~1.60 level. The DDR1 also did not experience huge price changes. As for the DDR2, prices declined slightly, roughly by 2%. Meanwhile, the original DDR2 667 1GB UDIMM (DRAM Vender brand module) was quoted at US$32~34. These developments are not considered conducive factors to the DRAM contract price trend for 1HSep.
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Last week, demand in the DRAM spot market was sluggish, as prices continued to decline. The DDR2 512Mb 667MHz fell to USD 1.9. In the DDR2 512Mb ett segment, many module houses and channels remained hopeful of an upturn in the Europe market after September. As prices plunged to the USD 1.5 level, increased market speculation was seen, propping up prices to USD 1.8 on August 27th. Nevertheless, prices soon began to erode again, finally ending at roughly USD 1.57.
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Last week, weak demand was witnessed in the spot market. Prices for the DDR1 remained flat, while the DDR2 continued to drop. The DDR2 512Mb 64Mx8 eTT slipped past the US$1.8 level to US$1.78, down by 7%. The DDR2 512Mb 64Mx8 also dropped by 6%, while the DDR2 533/667 declined to the US$2 level.
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