This year's top four LCD TV ODMs by their target shipments in order will be TCL, TPV, Foxconn and BOE Vision-Electronic Technology (BOEVT), according to the preliminary estimation by WitsView, a division of TrendForce. The fourth-place BOEVT in particular has emerged as a major pure ODM by taking advantage of the vast panel supply provided by its group company BOE Technology (BOE). Furthermore, BOEVT will be taking on U.S.-based VIZIO as its client for the first time in the second half of this year. The collaboration between the two companies indicates that Chinese ODMs are starting to play a bigger role in the global TV supply chain.
DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, reports that DRAM suppliers are now negotiating with their clients over the third-quarter contracts during this latter half of June. As there is no easing of undersupply in the DRAM market, prices continue to climb. DRAMeXchange estimates that the overall ASP of DRAM products will rise by about 5% this third quarter compared with the second quarter. Suppliers can therefore expect further increases in their profits.
Increasing demand for AMOLED panels from smartphone brands and the rising production of ICs for Touch with Display Driver Integration (TDDI) has propelled the growth of the NOR Flash market in the recent period, according to DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce. Currently, the global production capacity of NOR Flash amounts to just 88,000 pieces of 12-inch wafers per month. NOR Flash supply will remain tight because related components require a high level of customization and there are difficulties in ramping up production. DRAMeXchange estimates that prices of NOR Flash will rise by about 20% sequentially in this third quarter due to supply scarcity.
Toshiba on June 21 announced that it has chosen a consortium led by U.S.-based Bain Capital and investors backed by the Japanese government as the first-place bidder for the spin-off of the company’s memory business. The deal is set to be finalized on June 28 and completed by March of next year. According to DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, this announcement in the short term could cause the NAND Flash market to start shifting from undersupply to equilibrium this fourth quarter. In the long run, the support and demand provided by the bidding party could help the spun-off memory business to become more competitive against Samsung in terms of NAND Flash production capacity and related technology.
DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, reports that the average contract price of server DRAM modules rose sequentially by nearly 40% and 10% respectively for the first and second quarter of 2017 due to tight supply. In the third quarter, the average contract price of 32GB server DRAM modules for first-tier customers is projected to arrive around US$260, while the average contract price of 32GB modules for second-tier customers may be higher than that threshold. The latest forecast by DRAMeXchange indicates that the average sequential price increase for server DRAM modules in the contract market for the third quarter will be in the range between 3% and 8%.