According to the observations of DRAMeXchange analysts memory market will soon pass from the lowest point in the protracted decline in memory chip prices. In May this year the average price of DDR4 chips and DDR3 has dropped to a critical level - up to $ 1.31 for the first and $ 1.25 for the second. It affects absolutely all memory manufacturers.
According to the head group DRAMeXchange analysts, the market for memory demand will increase in the third quarter. This is due to the approach of seasonal PC sales in the peak period of the completion of the summer holidays and the growing sales of Chinese smartphones. At the same time, we are approaching the beginning of Apple's sales new smartphones - iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. The next Apple innovations will increase the need for storage purchases, as will be equipped with 2 or 3 GB of RAM. Thus, Apple will demand a significant portion of the produced memory.
In parallel, market processes will run their processes in production. In particular, the memory manufacturers slow down the pace of the transition to new process technologies. This will reduce the cost of production development and it is expressed in the fact that after 2017 the memory supply growth in terms of capacity (bits) falls below 20% per year, whereas in good years the annual storage growth of production in terms of bits could exceed 50%. A significant increase in terms of bits occurred for the reason that the migration to new process technologies increased capacity DRAM chip with the same area on the wafer. Saving market demand for memory for a couple with a decrease in production will inevitably create prerequisites for the increase in the cost of chips.
In June, there are signs in memory prices. Separate DDR3 chips from July 6, has increased in price on spot markets and provoked an increase in prices for certain DDR4 chips. Since July, these processes can go more active, resulting in the growth and stabilization of wholesale prices for memory. Final stabilization of prices for memory chips is expected in 2017.