DRAM spot prices continue slight upward trend; 2H April contract prices stay flat or up slightly

The up-tick of DDR spot prices encourages DXI to continue its upswing and hits 3,209 (up 3.08% or 96 points) last week on the side effect of present shortage.

Overall DRAM demand at spot market is not strong but the shortage helps boosting DDR prices upward. Prices of DDR 256Mb eTT (uTT) had once shot to US$2.40 and exceeded the prices of major brand DDR chips. The price level of eTT pulled back to US$2.33 as traders released their stocks for profit taking. As marketers are await for PSC's eTT chips quotes and supply that about to release this week, most are conservative over procurement. The upside trend of eTT also grew prices of major brand DDR 256Mb. Price of DDR 256Mb 32Mbx8 400MHz has grown to US$2.47 from US$2.28 while 512Mb in the same density has also grow from US$4.51 to US$4.47.

DDR2 prices growth continue last week with DDR2 512Mb 64Mbx8 533MHz grew by a slight 1.6% to US$5.00 while the same-density NMB (Non major brand) chips has also grew by 2.5% to US$3.69.

DRAM 2H April contract prices to stay flat or up slightly

DRAM contract prices stay at high-level despite the weak seasonality impact, thanks to the tight DRAM supply with some makers successfully raised their quotes in 2HApr.

For Taiwan-based memory maker, ProMOS states that its contract quotes stay flat in 2HApr with DDR 256MB DIMM priced at US$19-19.50 while DDR2 512MB averaged at US$45.

Nanya, on the other hand, raised their quotes to those extra orders. The company quotes DDR2 512MB DIMM at US$46-48 for those extra orders while others stayed at US$44-45. Nanya indicates that demand for both DDR2 1GB and DDR2 512MB 667MHz pick up, thus boosting overall ASPs trend upward.

International vendor like Infineon also announced slight price up as Nanya while Samsung quoted most of their DDR2 512MB at US$45-47 in 1HApr.

For DDR, PC OEMs are exposing to stronger price up pressure than DDR2 as the price difference between the same-density 512MB DDR and DDR2 is considerable. The quotes for DDR 512MB were US$36-38 while the same-density DDR2 was US$45-46 in 1HApr. In the 2HApr negotiation, chipmakers attempted to push DDR 512MB to the US$38-40 level and most PC system makers accepted slight price up in 2HApr.

DRAM bit growth only reach 3.8% in 1Q06

DRAMeXchange trims down the 1Q06 DRAM bit growth by a percentage point to 3.8% to 2.096 billion 256Mb equivalent units.

Despite Elpida shows a rapid DRAM sales bit growth of 63% in FY4Q05, DRAMeXchange estimates that its supply bit growth should be less than 63% as its first quarter sales should include the accumulated inventory from last Dec.

For Taiwan makers, ProMOS succeeded to report a 7% QoQ production bit growth in 1Q06 on contribution from its Taichung fab. International vendors like Samsung and Micron, however, show negative output bit growth while they adjust their product mix and wafer allocation. Most other large-scale vendors only record their bit growth under the 5% level in the same period.

Note: Detail figures are released on DRAMeXchange Market Intelligence service.

Gloomy NAND Flash transaction drags prices down slightly

NAND transaction at the spot market is still weak last week with buyers continue to request for lower quotes. Overall speaking, demand for 8Gb and 2Gb are relatively good but price of Samsung's K9W8Gb suffered rapid drop. On Apr25, Samsung quotes its 1Gb at US$4.10-4.20; 2Gb at US$5.05-5.15; 4Gb(F9F) at US$9-9.42; 4Gb(K9K) at US$10.25-10.40; 8Gb(K9K) at US$18.75-18.90; 8Gb(K9W) at US$26.50-28.70 and 16Gb at US$35.50-36. Hynix settled its chip quotes for 1Gb at US$3.95-4.05; 2Gb at US$4.95-5.10; 4Gb at US$7.90-8.10 and 8Gb at US$17.50-17.65.