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Market oversupply continued to put downward pressure on DRAM prices in the second quarter, according to DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce. Compared with the prior quarter, the global average sales price (ASP) of DRAM for all applications fell by more than 5%. On the other hand, the global DRAM revenue for the second quarter rose 6.3% sequentially to US$9.1 billion due to the expansion of bit supply. Increased output from Micron’s 20nm and SK Hynix’s 21nm processes were the drivers of this bit supply growth.
With the government’s backing, key enterprises in China’s semiconductor sector have just established a “high-end chip alliance” that fosters the formation of a vertically integrated industry ecosystem on a national scale. The founding 27 members of this alliance include Tsinghua Unigroup, Yangtze River Storage Technology, SMIC, Huawei, ZTE and China Academy of Telecommunication Research (a branch of the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, or MIIT). “This alliance of government, academia and industry aims to create a complete ecosystem for domestic semiconductor manufacturers, said Jian-Hong Lin, research manager of TrendForce. “If successful, the alliance will create a chip industry chain starting from chip architecture to chip production, operation systems, devices, platforms and finally to the IT service market. In sum, this move is another indication of China’s ambition to transform itself from a major manufacturing country by export volume to a global manufacturing leader in terms of product quality.
China’s state-backed technology conglomerate Tsinghua Unigroup has acquired a majority stake in XMC, a major compatriot semiconductor manufacturer, and brought it under a new holding company called Yangtze River Storage Technology. From this point on, XMC will be responsible for coordinating the development of China’s memory industry, which is wholly in pursuit of NAND Flash production.
DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, reports DRAM prices were on a decline from October 2014 to June 2016, with the average contract price of DDR3 4GB plunging 62% from U$32.75 to US$12.5. “After being on a downtrend for almost two years, DRAM contract prices stabilized in June as most negotiations settled at US$12.5,” said Avril Wu, DRAMeXchange research director. Due to the tightening of supply, first-tier PC OEMs also started their third-quarter contract negotiations earlier in June. DRAMeXchange expects DRAM contract prices to go up in the third quarter, and the increases will range from about 4% to 8%.
The latest NAND Flash price report from DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, finds prices of TLC wafers and spot prices of mainstream memory cards have been on a steady rise for three consecutive months since this April. The uptrend will continue as the possibility of the market encountering tight supply in the third quarter becomes more apparent. The margin of price increase has also been getting larger over the past month.