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DRAM prices began to rise in the second half of 2016 and have maintained a strong upward momentum through the first half of 2017, according to data from DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce. The average contract price of PC DRAM modules rose by nearly 40% sequentially in the first quarter to US$24 and then by more than 10% sequentially in the second quarter to US$27. Furthermore, the average contract price of PC DRAM modules increased by about 4.6% between this June and July. DRAMeXchange’s price forecast for this year’s second half indicates and steady and incremental gains as the general trend in the DRAM market.
TrendForce’s latest research on semiconductor fab plans in China after 2016 finds that a total 17 new fabs are slated for construction so far. Five of these plants will be for processing 8-inch wafers and the remaining 12 plants will be for processing 12-inch wafers. New fab projects will carry high depreciation costs, and the aggressive recruitment efforts by semiconductor manufacturers will raise the cost of personnel needed for fab operation. Furthermore, prices of bulk silicon wafers have gone up as the strong demand for them worldwide has outpaced the overall supply. Within the short/medium term, the construction and operation of these new fabs poses enormous financial risks for their owners.
Industry 4.0 is a concept that has attracted a lot of attention in the global marketplace since its emergence in 2012. Following this conceptual framework, manufacturing companies in various industries have embarked on a mission to transform their operations by deploying smart technologies. TrendForce’s ongoing coverage of smart manufacturing solutions indicates that investments in related hard- and software have been growing steadily. Furthermore, this market is seeing rising demand and a trend towards integrated solutions. TrendForce forecasts that the size of the global market for smart manufacturing solutions will surpass US$320 billion by 2020.
Global server shipments fell in the first quarter of 2017 due to the seasonal effect on demand, according to the latest server market analysis by DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce. However, shipments rebounded in the second quarter and rose by about 10% compared with the first quarter. Looking ahead, DRAMeXchange estimates that total shipments for the second half of 2017 will also increase by 10% compared with the first half owing to demand from major technology companies including Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft.
Inotera, which is also known as Micron Technology Taiwan, suspended the operation of Fab-2, one of its two fabrication plants in Taiwan’s Taoyuan City, on July 1. The malfunctioning of the nitrogen gas dispensing system led to the contamination of wafers and equipment in the facility. DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, estimates that Inotera has suffered a production capacity loss of around 60K wafer starts per month, out of the supplier’s previous total of 125K wafer starts per month (K = 1,000). This conservative estimate also amounts to a 5.5% cut in the global DRAM production capacity for this July. The temporary shutdown of Fab-2 is expected to aggravate the current undersupply situation in the DRAM market and cause further price increases for memory products.