According to DRAMeXchange, a research division of TrendForce, the highest price for the mainstream 4GB modules has reached $US 34 due to the supply shortages resulting from SK Hynix’s fire accident and the continuous contract price uptrend. The price represents an estimated 6.25% increase compared to the amount observed in September. Calculating on the basis of the aforementioned figure, the 4Gb chip price translates to approximately $US 3.94, which is close to the $US 4 mark, and only 8% lower than the highest 4Gb chip price in the spot market ($US 4.25). By the time the contract prices are announced in 2H’October, it is expected that the difference between the contract price and spot price will grow smaller.
According to DRAMeXchange, a research division of TrendForce, the market transactions were sluggish in 1H'October due to the underwhelming Chinese holiday sales and the conservative attitude displayed towards the market situation for Thanksgiving and Christmas. While SK Hynix's Wuxi plant fire accident prompted some manufacturers to allocate portions of their NAND Flash capacity to DRAM, the mainstream NAND Flash contract prices have stayed mostly flat throughout1H'October.
According to DRAMeXchange, a research division of TrendForce, the 2H'Sep NAND Flash contract prices grew by 3-6% (compared to 2H’August) due to the expectations of a lowered NAND Flash supply following the Wuxi plant’s fire accident.
According to DRAMeXchange, a division of global market research firm TrendForce, SK Hynix’s Wuxi fab is based on Gemini architecture. Part of the fab was originally an 8-inch wafer fab with a smaller capacity, and this is where the fire originated. The damages have affected around 100K wafers per month of the plant’s 130K wafers per month capacity. The remaining 30K wafers per month suffered smoke damage, and capacity has not been restored as of today. It is likely the Wuxi plant will not have any output in September and October.
According to the latest market survey conducted by AVANTI, a research division of TrendForce, both Samsung and Apple remain the most used smartphone brands among Chinese consumers. Xiaomi has notably managed to rise past HTC this time around, and is currently at fifth place. TrendForce believes Xiaomi’s smartphone sales will greatly affect China's domestic smartphone industry, and will exert the most impact on smartphone manufacturers such as Lenovo and ZTE, which produce similarly priced products.
