DRAM chip prices rise

DRAM PRICES are set to rise and the industry braces itself for a shortage as expected PC demand will outpace capacity.

Talking to Digitimes, Pai Pei-Lin, Nanya Technology vice president, predicted that chip prices would continue to rise throughout November.

He thinks that next year there will be a shortage of memory chips, as PC replacement demand will outpace capacity expansion.

Contract prices for DDR2 chips have been rising since August by about 20 per cent a month. It is expected that they will stabilise in about two months.

Most manufactures are expected to run DDR3 for half of their memory needs for both PCs and servers, Pai claimed.

He said it was unlikely there would ever be a shift back DDR2 parts due to supply or pricing concerns.

Pai is banking on Windows 7 to trigger a PC upgrade cycle, which has been delayed for three years due to widespread disappointment with Windows Vista. µ