Q109 WW capacity cut 32%, Taiwanese vendors cut 50% of total capacity as the highest in the world, states DRAMeXchange

Taipei, February 10, 2009 -- According to DRAMeXchange, with the increasing DRAM CAPEX, WW DRAM capacity peaked in 2008. Q208 WW wafer start reached 1.53 million wafers, and Taiwanese DRAM vendors wafer starts also reached 530 K wafers and accounted for 35% of the WW quantity. During 2006 to 2008, among the Taiwanese vendors, Rexchip, as the highest, started 80 K wafers with new 12 inch capacity in Q407. Runner ups are Inotera Fab2 started 60 K wafers which ran full capacity in Q307, Nanya Fab3 30 K wafers, and Promos Fab4 15 K wafers. The total capacity was 185 K wafers, and accounted for 12% of the total wafer starts of Q208 peak period. Afterwards, retirement from 8 inch capacity and cutting capacity started in September 2008. In addition, Qimonda applied for bankruptcy protection and went into the corporation reorganization process in January. Q108 total quarterly wafer starts is estimated to be 1 million wafers including 260 K wafers from the Taiwanese vendors. The total WW capacity cut reached 32%, and the Taiwanese vendors cut 50%. The main reason was that DDR2 1Gb eTT chip price dropped from 1.22 USD in early October to the low of 0.59 USD, only in Q408 alone the price dropped 50%. The price level was lower than the material cost of 0.8 to 0.9 USD, and the Taiwanese DRAM vendors kept flowing out cash. DRAM vendors would rather give up production and keep the cash in hand to survive through the harsh winter.