DRAMeXchange reports DRAM 2Q revenue grows 12.7%

Taipei, August 7, 2008 --- According to DRAMeXchange, Price of DRAM has been appreciated by 17% QoQ in contract market and only 4.4% in spot market in 2Q. The relatively strong price appreciation in the contract market has benefited those DRAM makers, who have a relatively high sales exposure to the contract market, with a relatively strong QoQ sales growth. But this situation excludes those who have caught in process node migration bottleneck in the quarter.

Powerchip, though having its target places at the spot market, also saw its sales from branded chips surpassed most rivals, thanks to decline of foundry production proportion and consistent expansion at Rexchip. Among all major players, only Qimonda saw its quarterly sales decline due to output shrink in 2Q.

By reviewing major players’ EBIT performance, Samsung is the only DRAM maker that managed to have made profit in 2Q on a dominant market share. Recalling the Korean player’s 1Q investor conference, it announced that it aims for a 100% YoY supply bit growth in 2008 with considerable resources spent already. It updated that its 2Q bit growth as 20%+, marking the biggest growth among all.

However, Samsung’s sales growth did not outstrip rivals because: 1. it has secured some long-term supply contracts with low quotes; 2. a depreciation of Korean won by 7% and; 3, ASP erosion of GDDDR and mobile RAM.