Global DRAM sales to grow

BEANCOUNTERS at analyst firm Isuppli have consulted the runes and decided that global DRAM revenue is set to return to growth in 2010.

The outfit predicts that global DRAM revenues will rise to $31.9 billion in 2010, up 40.4 per cent from $22.7 billion in 2009.

If this comes true it will be welcome news for the industry, which has suffered annual revenue declines of 3.7 per cent in 2009, 25.1 per cent in 2008 and 7.5 per cent in 2007.

Mike Howard, senior DRAM analyst at Isuppli, said this year will build on the momentum built up in the fourth quarter of 2009, when overall industry revenues increased by 40 per cent.

The fourth quarter of 2009 represented the best period for DRAM suppliers in recent memory, with the industry posting revenues of more than $8 billion for the first time since the first quarter of 2007.

There had been some fears that the fourth quarter figures were a one-off and the industry was too unstable to sustain the higher sales levels. However Isuppli insists that is not the case, so we can all stop worrying. µ