After Huawei's Flash Effect Ends... Memory Semiconductor Prices Fall Across the Board

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] It has been reported that fixed prices for memory semiconductors such as DRAM and NAND flash all fell simultaneously in October. This decline is understood to be due to the end of Huawei's concentrated semiconductor purchases ahead of U.S. sanctions last month.

According to market research firm DRAMeXchange on the 31st, the fixed transaction price for PC DRAM (DDR4 8Gb) this month averaged $2.85, down 8.95% from last month's average fixed transaction price of $3.13.

The price drop appears to be largely due to the end of Huawei's concentrated semiconductor purchases in China, which aimed to stockpile inventory ahead of U.S. sanctions last month. DRAM spot prices have also continued their recent downward trend.

Server DRAM prices also showed weakness in October, continuing from last month. The price of 16GB server DRAM (DDR4 16GB R-DIMM) this month averaged $69, maintaining the previous month's level, but the mainstream 32GB DRAM price averaged $112, down 8.2%.

It is analyzed that server DRAM prices weakened as cloud companies, which increased purchases in the first half of the year, reduced new purchases from the third quarter and began to deplete inventory.

Market research firm TrendForce forecasted that the downward trend in server DRAM prices will continue until the first quarter of next year. However, it expects that demand and supply could be relatively balanced as manufacturers reduce the supply volume of server DRAM.

Fixed transaction prices for NAND flash also showed weakness this month.

The fixed transaction price for general-purpose NAND flash products (128Gb 16Gx8 MLC) for memory cards and USBs remained at $4.35 in August and September, but this month’s fixed transaction price recorded a 3.45% decline to $4.20.