DRAM pricing set to swerve sharply

PRICES OF DRAM on the spot market have rocketed in the last week but web site DRAM Exchange forecasts corrective measures that could dampen the growth.

In a weekly report to its customers it warned of drops in the spot market but said that contract prices will continue to rise as a result of PC seasonality.

Contract DRAM memory is related to orders made by large PC manufacturers in anticipation of forecast growth. It's not unknown for these OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to dabble in the spot market if needs must.

A shortage of DDR-2 memory chips let distributors cash in and caused prices to bloat by 16.8 per cent, said the Exchange. The Dramurai - who make the chips - are also forcing the pace by increasing the number of memory devices made on a 90 nanometre process.

That's caused something of a knock on effect on the market for DDR memory chips. The Dramurai had hoped that by now the market would go nuts for DDR-2 chips, but consumers, being the fickle souls they are, appear to believe there's nothing too much to be gained by buying an upmarket PC with suitable memory to match before Microsoft Vista hits the counters. µ

L'INQ
DRAM Exchange